Employers Prepare For Workforce Change

5-15-97

University Park, Pa. -- Without substantial changes in employee relations, American industry, labor and even higher education face a bumpy ride as the shift to a multicultural work environment accelerates over the next 20 years.

Anticipating change, Penn State, the Big 10 Universities, CEOs of major corporations and organized labor are coming together at Penn State this fall to share philosophies, strategies and new initiatives at The Best Practices in Diversity Conference: Exploring Practical Applications for the 21st Century, Sept. 18 to 20.

"In the past several years, some private corporations and academic institutions have made noticeable progress in harnessing the values of diversity in their recruiting strategies, improving the work climate and incorporating diversity into the fabric of their organizational structure. Others, because of the nature of their product or services or the history of their institutions have only just begun to look ahead," says Dr. Thomas Poole, acting deputy vice provost for educational equity and one of the conference organizers at Penn State. "Formally integrating diversity into the strategic planning process has become imperative for academic, corporate and labor organizations alike."

Taking this charge seriously, conference planners have scheduled three national leaders in workplace issues to speak. R. Roosevelt Thomas Jr., founder and president of the American Institute for Managing Diversity and author of three books on diversity in the workplace, will give the keynote address. Deval L. Patrick, former assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, will give the major address on hiring, retention and promotion practices, which will be followed by a panel discussion of practices that work and those that don't. Herbert Z. Wong, an industrial and organizational psychologist and a consultant on multicultural leadership strategies, will give an address on diversity training and programming initiatives, also followed by a panel discussion.

Other sessions will focus on practical strategies for achieving ethnic and racial diversity; gender; disability issues; international and cross-cultural matters; gay, lesbian and bisexual topics; and age. A special session is also scheduled on industry expectations of college graduates.

Registration for the three-day conference is now open. Top management and front-line practitioners in industry, labor and education are expected to attend. The conference, a continuing and distance education service of Penn State's Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity and the College of Education in collaboration with the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, will be held at the Penn State Conference Center at Penn State's University Park campus

For more information and to register, visit the Best Practices in Diversity Web site at http://www.cde.psu.edu/C&I/BestPracticesinDiversity/ You may also contact Charles Clark for information about the program content at (814) 949-5065 or Roberta Moore, for registration at (814) 863-5120 or send your questions by e-mail to ConferenceInfo1@cde.psu.edu

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Best Practices in Diversity Featured Speakers:
-- Dr. R. Roosevelt Thomas is the CEO of the consulting firm R. Thomas and Associates, Inc. He is also the founder and president of The American Institute for Managing Diversity, Inc., a research and education enterprise with the objective of fostering effective management of employee diversity. Thomas is an educator, consultant and author. He served as secretary of the college at Morehouse College, dean of the Atlanta University Graduate School of Business Administration, assistant professor at the Harvard Business School, and instructor at Morehouse. He has been active for 20 years as a consultant to corporations, professional firms, nonprofit organizations and academic institutions. He is also the author of three books: "Beyond Race and Gender: Unleashing the Power of Your Total Work Force by Managing Diversity" (1991); "Differences Do Make a Difference" (1992); and "Redefining Diversity" (1996).

-- Deval L. Patrick served as assistant attorney general for Civil Rights at the United States Department of Justice through President Clinton's first term. As an assistant attorney general, Patrick focused his attention on vigorous enforcement of the nation's civil rights laws to provide equal opportunity for all Americans. During his tenure, the Civil Rights Division achieved much success, including a landmark public accommodations settlement with Denny's restaurants, groundbreaking educational and enforcement efforts under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and expansion of the fair lending enforcement program The Civil Rights Division also developed the Police Misconduct Initiative, and began investigations of the southern church burnings and synagogue desecration. In 1996, President Clinton appointed Patrick as Co-chair of the National Church Arson Task Force. He took an active role in overseeing the investigation and prosecution of these cases, as well as coordinating security, prevention and outreach efforts.

-- Dr. Herbert Z. Wong, president of Herbert Z. Wong & Associates, is an industrial/organizational psychologist who has provided strategic consulting and training in multicultural management and workforce diversity to businesses, universities, government agencies and corporations since 1978 and in multicultural leadership strategies since 1966. Wong focuses his training and consultation on organizational development, team building, strategic planning and communication processes in workforce diversity and multicultural management. He provides organizational surveys on workforce diversity, employee opinions, climate assessments and cultural audits. Wong, as the Director of Training for Valuing Diversity worldwide, designed and directed all of the "Training-the-Trainers" programs for the seven-part film series. He is the co-founder and president of the National Diversity Conference, Inc., which presents the contemporary issues and future directions of workforce diversity and is attended by representatives of more than 300 corporations and organizations.

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