When Juan S. Muñoz speaks about his role and responsibilities as top diversity officer at Texas Tech University, his conversation touches on facets of the university that range from its long-term strategic plan to its recent ascent to become a top-tier research institution.
“Whether it’s fees, institutional funding, retention and graduation goals, strategic enrollment and recruitment, finance, students or academic affairs and academic issues, the chief diversity officer has been invited to serve on the very highest policy discussion at Texas Tech,” said Muñoz, whose official title is senior vice president for institutional diversity, equity, and community engagement.
Muñoz has plenty of company among his peers, according to a new survey from the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, or NADOHE. The survey found that 77 percent of the 196 respondents are considered part of the executive / administrative staff within their institutions. “That means more than three quarters are at the center of decision making at some level that’s in the executive ranks of the institution,” said Archie W. Ervin, president of NADOHE.
“That’s what we want,” Ervin said. “We want to be in the position of making a difference and having an impact.”
