Community College of Allegheny County announced yesterday that it will conduct a comprehensive diversity audit and has named a department chairman at the college as its interim chief diversity officer.
Ralph Proctor, head since 2001 of the Africana & Ethnic Studies department, will use results from the audit as groundwork for developing a college-wide diversity plan, the college said.
Meanwhile, CCAC said it has arranged a lease extension through August 2007 for its Bethel Park Center that will enable the college to conduct a community interest survey regarding public demand for education programs in the Bethel Park area.
The center has served about 8,000 students, though credit courses were discontinued in the fall. Plans to scale back the center sparked criticism this past spring from elected officials in the area.
RDP Consulting Services, whose past clients include Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Public Schools, will be paid $29,825 for the audit. It will touch on areas ranging from hiring practices to course offerings.
The college said the audit is consistent with its long-standing objectives.
"CCAC is committed to the recruitment and success of a diverse student body, faculty and staff," President Stewart Sutin said. "This audit is to ensure we are achieving and maintaining that standard."
After questions were raised by County Council in June, CCAC released data indicating its work force in most areas was as diverse, or more so, than the general labor market. But an 11-page letter submitted by CCAC Monday to the county and made public late yesterday indicated interest by the college in doing more to address areas including a decline in contracts awarded to minority enterprises.
The letter dealt with topics from travel to compensation that have sparked criticism of the Sutin administration. The college, criticized publicly last fall for spending $48,000 to relocate two executives including closing costs on a home at a time when programs were being cut, identified in this week's letter two instances in which smaller relocation sums were paid by Dr. Sutin's predecessor, Roy Flores.
Dr. Flores paid $9,000 to Chief Financial Officer J. Joseph Hester, and $7,200 to then Allegheny Campus Executive Dean Florence Agbonyitor in 2000.
First Published: August 23, 2006, 4:00 a.m.
