NewsTaco

By Jason Llorenz, LIN@R

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the independent agency that regulates the Internet and the nation’s telecommunications and broadcasting industries, is hiring in 2013.

Two positions are to be filled – the chairmanship, which is being vacated by Julius Genachowski, who has taken a post as senior fellow at the Aspen Institute’s Communications and Society program, and Commissioner Robert McDowell. And the stakes are high.

The current FCC heralded reforms and new programs with long-term consequences. Under Chairman Genachowski, the issues of digital literacy and broadband adoption have been pursued with great success.

By Science Daily

Diversity training programs lead people to believe that work environments are fair even when given evidence of hiring, promotion or salary inequities, according to new findings by psychologists at the University of Washington and other universities.

The study also revealed that participants, all of whom were white, were less likely to take discrimination complaints seriously against companies who had diversity programs.

Workplace diversity programs are usually developed by human resource departments to foster a more inclusive environment for employees, but aren’t typically tested for their effectiveness. Nonetheless, their existence has been used in courtrooms as evidence that companies treat employees fairly.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo by USDAgov]

This article was suggested by Taquista Roberto Cavazos, Ph.D.

By Jorge Rivas, Colorlines

On Tuesday the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) released a report that found the number of writer of color writing for television has doubled since the millennium.

The WGAW’s 2013 TV Staffing Brief examined employment patterns for 1,722 writers working on 190 broadcast and cable television shows during the 2011-12 season. The report found the number of writers of color has increased as a group but because the share of people of color continues to grow in the U.S. population little headway has been made toward reaching anything “approximating proportionate representation,” the report found.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo by a.saliga]

By LIN@R/JBHE

A group of liberal arts colleges is joining force with the University of California at Berkeley and Columbia University in an effort to increase the diversity of the faculty at high-ranking liberal arts colleges and to increase the diversity of graduate students at the research universities. Under the agreement, the Liberal Arts Diversity Officers Organization (LADO), a group representing 26 liberal arts institutions, will join forces with Columbia and Berkeley to form the Creating Connections Consortium (C3).

By Angelo Falcon, NBC Latino

“There are times when you hear what at first sounds like good news, and then you think about it and wonder if, in fact, it is.”

Click on picture to read story.

[Photo by pablo.sanchez]

Read more related stories:

Bien Hecho: Rodríguez First Latina tenured Yale Law Professor, NewsTaco

Ross Romero has lived a set of several different lives in his hometown of Salt Lake City, Utah. Recently, he told NewsTaco that his varied experience in his hometown —  from growing up as the son of a single mother on a teacher’s salary, to being a student at the  University of Utah, to living on the more affluent side of town and working in a bank —makes him the perfect candidate for Salt Lake County Mayor in 2012. The job is similar to what county administrators do in other places, he told us.

Of course, another reason Romero, an attorney, decided to run for this seat had to do with redistricting. He told us that as Senate Minority Leader in Utah, he was told that the Democrats were going to be redistricted out by one seat. Despite fighting to keep the seat, he ultimately asked whether anyone wanted to retire or seek another office; when no one volunteered, and in order to avoid Democratic infighting, Romero took it upon himself as Minority Leader to give up his seat.

However, Romero is generally an upbeat individual who told us that he considers Salt Lake County Mayor to be a higher office, enabling him to become a bigger leader for the Democratic Party in the state of Utah. The election will be competitive he told us, noting that there is no majority party in the county, but he’s sure that he’s the best candidate to bring together what is Utah’s most diverse county in order for everyone there to prosper.

“I think I am the candidate that best relates to all of our counties’ differences. Salt Lake County is the most diverse county in Utah, it has tremendous wealth and tremendous struggle. I have worked in the private sector have a good understanding of the business community I have a good understanding about not overextending our indebtedness and I’m focused on education,” he said. Additionally, after school programs, parks and recreation, support services, nutrition, transportation, pollution, health and obesity, and fiscal responsibility are at the top of Romero’s list of issues for Salt Lake County.

One really interesting thing about Romero is that he really loves Utah. To that end he told us, he frequently advocates for a variety of causes in Salt Lake County and the state of Utah, but often finds himself advocating or Utah as a community when he travels outside the state. In his view, anything you do to “add value” for the majority, also adds value for minorities, he said.

“I always consider myself a champion for Utah’s diverse voices in Utah, but I take that same challenge to be a champion for the LDS community outside of Utah which is a minority,” he told us.

That said, Romero always recognizes that he’s a Catholic Hispanic Democrat in Utah, which brings him back to his original point about Salt Lake County Mayor:  “I’m running as someone who cares about my community, and I believe I have a good set of skills for the job.”

Ultimately, Romero sees his bid for Salt Lake County Mayor as one way to give back to the hometown that he loves. After watching his mother work in public schools for almost 40 years, he told us her example taught him to give back to your community. As Salt Lake County Mayor Romero tells us that he hopes to make a difference by being able to give back to everyone in Salt Lake County, not just a majority or a minority community.

An exciting report this week notes that Latinos are increasingly applying to and attending medical schools in the U.S. and in significant numbers. Since 2004 applications by Latino students to U.S. medical schools increased almost 23%, representing a 6% rise from 2010 to 2011, the Association of American Medical Colleges reported.

The numerical figure was from 3,271 to 3,459 during this period and the total medical school applications in 2011 was about 44,000. So, while the number is rising, it’s still not necessarily significant.

This is occurring at the same time the Association of American Medical Colleges is reporting that the diversity of full-time medical school faculty has not kept pace with society, specifically that in 2009 about 20% of new full professors were non-white and only about 14% of full professors continuing in their positions.

References:

• The Chicago Sun-Times

California State Universities saw record numbers of applications this year, but more interestingly, Latino applicants outnumbered white applicants for the first time ever (based on self-reported data). Here’s the CSU press release:

The submissions came from 258,834 distinct applicants versus 241,166 last year. Potential students typically apply to multiple CSU campuses…

The CSU has also continued a trend of attracting a group of students that reflects the diversity of California. Based on self-reported statistical data, no ethnic or racial group forms a majority among CSU undergraduate applicants. This year also saw a first with Latino applicants outnumbering White applicants by 33.3 percent to 31.2 percent.

This is important for several reasons.

The majority of students in California are Latino, so unless more Latinos apply to college, the state’s future will be one of non-educated professionals.

Secondly, California has a state version of the DREAM Act, important for the previously point.

What do you think?

According to a recent study published by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the diversity of full-time medical school faculty has not kept pace with students or society.

The data shows while there are more women and minorities as medical school students and faculty members today than 40 years ago, “the lower retention rates, lower promotion rates, and longer times to promotion for women faculty and non-white faculty” suggest that there are still inconsistencies to be dealt with.

The study examined the student and faculty population in U.S. medical schools between 1969 and 2009. On a positive note, researchers found that newly appointed faculty were generally more diverse than continuing faculty:

In 2009, for example, 20.2 percent of full professors new to academic medicine were non-white, while 14.1 percent of full professors continuing in their positions were non-white. In 2009, women accounted for 24.0 percent of full professors new to academic medicine and for 18.2 percent of full professors continuing in their positions.

But once they began to examine the higher ranking professors and staff, diversity tended to decrease. Though, if women and minorities continue to fill more positions, and if they are able to retain them and move up, this could change as time goes on considering, “the relatively recent arrival of these demographic groups to academic medicine in appreciable numbers may require time for a significant presence among the senior ranks.”

Either way, considering the importance of minority representation in schools and the changing demographics of the U.S.,  medical schools should use these findings to speed up the process of diversifying their faculty so that the communities they teach and serve are being reflected.

[Photo By Tulane Public Relations]

Does anyone have $100 million they can spare? There’s a club I want to join and I’m a little short on cash to get the door opened. This is purely altruistic, so know that your help is helping a greater cause.

I read where only 2% of the nation’s venture capitalists are Latino, and I’m appalled. I want to change that, for the sake of diversity, so I’m willing to sacrifice the next 10 or so years of my life for the greater good — someone, as they say, has got to do it.

I’m thankful to the National Venture Capitalist Association (yes, there actually is such a thing; and yes, that’s the club I want to join) for calling attention (albeit inadvertently)  to their own, gargantuan, diversity shortfall. The association recently did a census of their membership, it was reported in Gawker and the New York Times, that found that a paltry 2% of all venture capitalists counted were Latino. Here’s how the Times broke the numbers down:

Of 600 professionals surveyed, from general partners to marketers, 87 percent identified themselves as white, 9 percent were Asian, 2 percent black or Latino, with the remaining 2 percent calling themselves “mixed race.” The numbers were roughly the same as the last survey, in 2008, when 88 percent of respondents were white.

There’s also a gender imbalance. Only 11% of actual investors are women, and that’s down from three years ago. But there’s little I can do to personally change that, short of a gender re-assignment, and trust me on this, I don’t any part of that (I’m perfectly at ease in the perception of my cluelessness. Guys, you know what I’m talking about). I can’t change my culture, nor would I want to if I could — I consider being Latino a fortunate accident of birth.

So my only recourse is to be rich, and I’m not, so I need help. Here’s what I have going for me:

Newcomers to the industry were less likely to be white and male. In that group, Asians in particular were more widely represented. Of those who had worked in venture capital for five years or less, 77 percent were white and 17 percent Asian; only 6 percent were black, Latino or mixed race.

Six percent of newbie venture capitalists are Latino — 2% total. That’s a steep learning curve. But I figure we have to start someplace. I think passing the hat is as good a place as any. So if I mix the 6% newbie count with my life-long string of dumb luck, I figure I’ve got a pretty good chance of eventually rubbing elbows with the Silicon Valley venture rich guys. And in doing so, talking one for the team in the name of diversity.

Your thank-you’s are humbly appreciated.

[Photo by sunshinecity]

Yesterday the Obama Administration released an executive order calling for more diversity within federal hiring.

Essentially in 90 days the White House hopes to: develop a government-wide agenda for diversity in hiring, establish a Government-wide Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan that would be updated every four years, review current diversity hiring practices, establish a reporting system for these hiring practices and provide guidance to better diversity hiring practices already in place.

Within 120 days federal agencies must begin to implement any of these changes. The Associated Press reported that, currently, the federal workforce is:

An Office of Personnel Management report says that in fiscal year 2010, the federal workforce was 66.2 percent white, 17.7 percent black, 8 percent Hispanic, 5.6 percent Asian/Pacific Islander and 1.8 percent Native American. It was 56.1 percent male.

These numbers hardly mirror the country’s population, whether it be by race or gender, and thus the order stands to benefit just about everybody as applicants or recipients of services. It will be exciting to see how the order is implemented and what, if any, substantive changes come about in governmental hiring practices as a result.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD.

[Photo By 4lexandre]

NPR ran a great report today about how HGTV — that’ Home and Garden Television — was able to boost viewership by featuring Latinos, African Americans and Asians in roles that aren’t stereotyped, but rather educated professionals. Most of the shows on this channel are about redecorating homes or renovating them, but HGTV does what many networks say is impossible, feature minorities who aren’t poor, uneducated, thugs, immigrants, etc.

The story notes that five years ago when they realized that their programming was not reflective of ethnic minorities, they made changing this a priority, since, HGTV has been more successful in several ways:

• 20% increase in primetime audience
• 50% increase in African American audiences
• One of the most popular shows among home-owning African Americans
• Higher than average viewership among Latino audiences

So, just to recap, one network made diversity a priority and saw only gains. Why aren’t more networks and studios doing this? After all, Latinos go to the movies more often than the general population and Latinos lead in new technology purchases (Blu-ray anyone?), so you think it would make sense for companies that produce media for consumption to target a group already known to consume this media, right? I guess wrong, doesn’t seem to make much sense to me, what do you think?

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD

I consider myself lucky to have grown up in Los Angeles and so many people from so many places.

At the time, I thought it was normal to live next-door to Persians, share lunch with Filipinos, sit next to someone who was Chinese during math class, talk trash with your Mexican friends during class breaks and then call your Salvadoran friend on the phone when you got home. To me, being able to gain access to other ways of living life so easily was normal.

When I grew up, I realized that I was wrong. Most people for most of recorded human history have not had the privilege of getting to learn about cultures other than their own, and even in our country, the much-lauded “melting pot,” people in many parts of the country are not as lucky as I was to grow up in a big city and get to know people whose families come from all over the place.

The more time has passed and the more opportunities I’ve had professionally to meet new people, the more I realize how fortunate I am to have grown up in a world where difference was so, well, normal. Growing up in a place that allowed me to see and experience things foreign to my home life made me a much more open and accepting person. I’ve been witness to some startling ignorance on the part of colleagues, associates and even bosses that could have been completely avoided if, at some point during their lives, they’d had to simply make do and get along with people who weren’t replicas of themselves.

But it’s not that simple.

All the fuss over the Census goes to show that, while this country has been changing and in many parts of the world people have been forced to live with others unlike them, not everyone embraces diversity as a gift. We need only look at places like Arizona to see an example, but there are many others as we all know. And yet, I also have to realize that there are regional versions of the DREAM Act and legislators fighting for people unlike themselves, people who, out of the goodness of their hearts, try to make the world a better place.

I always try to find a way to take the good with the bad and see how things will work out in the end. I know that I wasn’t the only one who grew up lucky enough to know people of all stripes, and that the others I do know who were this lucky benefited from it, too.

The future of this country is going to be a stark departure from the experience of the previous generation. China is going to continue to grow and, eventually, will displace the U.S. as a super power, at least that’s what “they” say. Immigration will continue to be a big part of this country’s heritage, especially immigration from Latin America. And, the fact that our school system sucks guarantees that we’re going to need highly educated workers imported from other parts of the world.

I, of course, am excited to see what my country looks like on the other end, and I hope we’ll be better, that we’ll have evolved. Because diversity is a privilege, but it’s also inevitable. So the question we must ask ourselves is, when you’re faced with a Chinese businessman, Latino teacher or Indian doctor, are you going to find a reason to make it work, or not?