OneIT teams working on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives understand that innovation happens when everyone has a place at the table.

Conversations about systemic problems, individual experience, and potential solutions have became fixtures of OneIT listening posts, project planning, and hallway conversations. 

This includes the cultural innovations that are integrating DEI priorities into OneIT operations and making the organization a potential model for other campus units. 

“We’ve taken both a bottom-up and a top-down approach,” says José Jiménez, director of research information systems in ITS Administrative Information Systems and DEI committee co-chair. 

OneIT introduced its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan in 2018, establishing goals for a more inclusive and equitable environment, diversity in recruitment and retention, and overall accountability and effectiveness. 

But global attention to racial injustice in summer 2020 gave the effort new energy. Soon conversations about systemic problems, individual experience, and potential solutions became fixtures of OneIT listening posts, project planning, and hallway conversations. 

Values that make business sense 

OneIT DEI initiatives openly recognize that information technology fields haven’t represented the larger workforce nor felt especially welcoming to people with marginalized and intersectional identities.  

Expanding opportunity isn’t just the right thing to do—it also makes business sense. 

“Opportunities for remote work have reduced the costs of changing jobs for employees who don’t feel comfortable,” Jiménez says. “Ensuring that people feel they belong is good for retention. Inclusion initiatives pay dividends for our whole community.” 

Individually, OneIT staff are completing Building University of Iowa Leadership for Diversity (BUILD) certificates and updating professional profiles or email signatures to model inclusion. As teams, they share readings, watch and discuss videos, and host DEI-oriented conversations. 

Organizationally, OneIT has backed training, system updates, and adjustments to everyday practices that, together, support a more inclusive culture. 

For example, teams have taken a hard look at familiar IT terminology. They’ve proposed alternatives to terms with gendered or racial connotations—e.g., “allow list” instead of “whitelist”—and revised systems and websites accordingly. 

“Reviewing inclusive language helps us make quick progress while we work on other aspects of DEI,” Jimémez says. “The changes we make are important, but so are the conversations we have along the way. Projects like this engage people in understanding how the words we use matter.” 

New BUILD course 

In 2021, OneIT staff helped expand the conversation about technology and inclusion to the larger campus community. They introduced a new BUILD course titled Inclusive Practices for an Online World. 

The course opens by reviewing foundational DEI concepts and their applications in technology contexts. From there, it examines how technologies can be deployed and configured to better support users with disabilities and diverse gender and cultural identities. 

Both sessions held to date—one in November and another in February—drew capacity registration. 

Campus recognition 

2021 also saw OneIT community members earn recognition for DEI commitments. 

Joe Hetrick, senior director of ITS Research Services, received the university’s Staff Award for Distinguished Leadership in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The award cited his work to build an inclusive environment and recruit women and other people underrepresented in IT. 

“These practices have helped our group become one of the most diverse in ITS,” said Genevieve Johnson, senior application developer for Research Services, in nominating Hetrick for the award. 

Jiménez himself received the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leadership Award, one of five IT Leadership Awards presented during the 2021 Tech Forum. The honor cited not just his role in DEI planning and implementation, but also his service as a thought leader, confidant, and advocate. 

“José leads by example,” says Manda Marshall, instructional technology consultant in the Office of Teaching, Learning, and Technology, and co-chair of the OneIT DEI committee. “His knowledge, experience, and empathy show the qualities that build a more inclusive culture.” 

Sustained effort 

During 2021, OneIT’s DEI committee introduced a monthly email digest to keep the community informed. They’ve also started conversations with ITS human resources colleagues about improved recruitment, hiring, and retention practices. 

All these accomplishments suggest that OneIT has reached an inflection point. 

“We have an engaged committee and a community regularly participating in conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Jiménez says. “This has persisted long enough that it isn’t just a temporary reaction to events of a couple summers ago, but a sustained effort.”