Officials: Efforts Target UNC's Minority Students

The study, titled "Investing in People: Developing All of America's Talent on Campus and in the Workplace," was released by the Business-Higher Education Forum on Jan. 10. The study warns that a national shortage of minorities in higher education could translate into less-qualified employees.

But Marcia Harris, director of University Career Services, said UNC offers various programs specifically geared toward helping minority students find productive employment opportunities in an evolving work force.

Harris said her office assists students in finding jobs by organizing events like minority career fairs. She said students who attend the fairs receive an opportunity to meet with employers who have strong affirmative action goals and are interested in hiring minorities.

Minority students also can take advantage of other resources specifically targeted toward them, Harris said. "When students register (with career services), they can indicate that they're a minority and receive information about special scholarship programs and fellowships," she said.

Career services also offers books that discuss minorities' experiences in the workplace, Harris said. She explained that minorities can face challenges such as being the only minority employee in an organization or having to relocate to a town with a small minority population.

Harris said minority students frequently take advantage of the programs provided. "Our statistics show that we have a slightly larger percentage of minority students (as compared to non-minority students) using our resources," she said.

The larger percentage of minorities using career services could indicate that not many students are attending graduate school or that minority students do not have their own job network, Harris said.

Harold Woodard, associate dean in the Department of Academic Counseling, said his office offers peer mentoring for minorities. He said the program targets black and Native American students specifically, but any student can participate. Woodard said he believes UNC effectively prepares minority students to enter the work force.

He said campus organizations, such as the Carolina Association of Black Journalists and the Minority Association of Pre-Health Students, can provide support for minority students and prepare them to enter the work force. But he said students should make an effort to participate in a wide range of campus activities. "It is fine to be active in minority student organizations, but it would be a mistake to be exclusively involved in them."

Being a minority might actually help some students better interact with other employees because the ethnic makeup of most universities can be similar to that of the workplace, Woodard said.

"If minority students at predominantly white universities make it a point to broaden their horizons and come in contact with a broad base of ethnic groups, then that could be beneficial to them later in the workplace," he said.

Woodard said that even though UNC is preparing minority students to be effective employees, the Jan. 10 report could have serious repercussions in the future.

"If we as a society fail to educate students, regardless of their ethnicity, then we will not reach our potential as a nation," he said. "If any people are left out of the educational system, then we all will potentially suffer."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.