BULLS NEWS

Laboratory For Diversity In Sport Recognizes UB’s Athletic Department For Second Straight Year

Warde Manuel

“I am very pleased that our Division has received this type of recognition for a second straight year and I want to thank the Laboratory for Diversity in Sport for continuing their efforts to shine a light on these important issues in collegiate athletics,” said Warde Manuel, UB’s Director of Athletics. “It speaks highly to the efforts of the entire University under the leadership of President Simpson and our staff here within the athletic department who have worked diligently to provide and maintain a fair, diverse and equitable workplace as we continue to build a highly-competitive program in the Mid-American Conference.”

The Overall Excellence in Diversity award was based on the sum of six categories, including Diversity Strategy, African-American Graduation rates (male and female), Title IX Compliance, Employee Gender Diversity and Employee Racial Diversity. In each category, the Laboratory recognizes multiple recipients.

UB joined Akron and Ball State as one of three schools from the Mid-American Conference to be recognized with overall excellence in diversity. The Mid-American Conference was the only league in nation to put three of its universities on the list. UB also joined Louisiana-Monroe and Washington State as the only school’s to be included on this list in two straight years.

The school also received recognition for employee diversity in both gender and values and attitudes. The employee diversity awards were based on questionnaires which were distributed to five athletic administrators from each department. Department scores were calculated for those departments in which two or more persons responded to the questionnaire. Participants were asked to indicate the proportion of people from different demographic groups who worked in the department. Response options ranged from 1 to 10. Departments with the lowest proportion of males as department employees received the highest scores for gender diversity.