Antiracism Statement
Finance and Administration
The Division of Finance and Administration supports the mission of the University by providing financial and administrative services to students, faculty, and staff. We work behind the scenes to ensure that all University employees have the resources needed to do their jobs well and that the campus is operating at its best.
Clearly, we cannot be at our best when anyone in our community is hurting from experiencing violence, hatred, and discrimination resulting from racism, or is tired from struggling against the effects of long-standing economic injustice. As a division concerned primarily with business operations, we will pursue changes to how we do our business, in an effort to catalyze economic opportunity for persons of color.
The Division of Finance and Administrative Services will address systemic economic injustice by adopting a new policy that will govern our procurement operations. By diversifying OWU’s supply chain, OWU will reduce barriers to the growth and success of businesses owned by people of color. Our commitment will support the local economy by intentionally engaging with suppliers who are State of Ohio certified minority-owned business enterprises, as well as those recognized as small businesses, woman-owned businesses, and veteran-friendly business enterprises.
We will embark this fall on a thorough audit of our campus staff hiring practices to identify areas subject to implicit bias against qualified applicants from diverse backgrounds. In response to the audit’s findings, we will change our processes for sourcing, screening, and interviewing accordingly, so that we can diversify the human capital of our campus community. We will also review our referral, merit, and promotion practices to foster retention of employees and opportunities for advancement.
These actions are just the beginning. We know there is much more work to be done, and the staff of the division are committed to supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Division of Finance and Administration