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B. Faculty and Staff

In the areas of faculty and administrative staff recruitment and development, the Council will prepare and maintain a comprehensive history of positions which the institutions of higher education ore attempting to fill. Each Fall, the Council will make this listing available to professional associations which have expressed a commitment to assist women and persons from minority groups in their search for faculty or administrative positions. The Council staff will also distribute recruiting materials about opportunities in Virginia's institutions of higher education to graduate schools throughout the nation and will circulate resume's which ore received through contacts with minority group persons or organizations.

One of the major problems facing colleges and universities as they seek to increase the number of minority group persons employed as faculty and staff is the shortage of such per5ons in an extremely competitive market. In order to assist Virginia's state-supported institutions of higher education in their recruitment efforts, the Council will design and seek funding for two specific programs which could increase the number of minority group men and women who ore qualified for faculty and staff positions. Obviously, these programs will be designed in close cooperation with the institutions themselves and will have their support. Funding will be sought from state and federal sources as well as from foundations.

The first program will enable minority group persons who presently hold faculty or staff positions but who have not earned terminal degrees to pursue these degrees at one of Virginia's doctoral degree granting institutions. Faculty and staff members will be selected for participation in this program on the basis of their qualifications and will be admitted to one of Virginia's doctoral degree granting institutions which offers appropriate graduate programs. They will receive cost of living stipends which will enable them to work on their degrees during the summer months. In addition, where possible to do so, the doctoral degree granting institutions will arrange programs of study that place heavy emphasis on independent work. This will enable participants in the program to work toward their degrees during the regular academic year.

In planning this program, and in determining the Fields of study which will be included within it, the State Council of Higher Education and participating institutions will survey those employed at Virginia's institutions to determine the potential number of participants and will project Faculty and staff personnel requirements in Virginia's institutions. It is anticipated that planning for this program will be completed by September 30, 1974, after which time funding proposals will be submitted to appropriate government agencies and foundations.

The second program will seek to identify promising students who are at least interested in looking seriously at the possibility of graduate work and academic careers.

Beginning at the end of their junior year in college, it will offer these students an intensive summer program designed to enrich their undergraduate educations and to give them an experience similar to that of graduate study. At the same time, the program will seek to introduce these students to the possibility of academic careers.

The doctoral degree granting institutions will offer the intensive summer programs. It is possible that participating students may also be permitted to spend one or more terms of the regular school year at a doctoral degree granting institution. Minority group students from all of Virginia's state-supported colleges and universities will be eligible to participate in this program.

The program will be designed to assist students who participate in this program to determine whether they ore interested in academic careers. In addition, Faculty members at the doctoral degree granting institutions at which they study will evaluate the students and advise them candidly about their potential. In addition, students participating in the program will receive valuable information which could assist them in gaining admission to graduate school. All of Virginia's state-supported institutions will cooperate closely with the Council in the design of this program. It is anticipated that planning For this program will be completed by September 30, 1974, after which funding proposals will be submitted to appropriate government agencies and foundations.

Faculty and staff development is an important aspect of equal opportunity. Again, because faculty personnel policies are the statutory responsibility of institutional boards of visitors, the Council's role will be mainly advisory. The Council will monitor efforts in this area and will distribute information about promising approaches to all the institutions of higher education in the State.