The Diversity Action Alliance is a global coalition of public relations and communications industry associations and leaders who are working to accelerate progress of meaningful and tangible achievements in diversity, equity, and inclusion in the profession. Duke was the first university to sign on as a member of this group.

Duke’s chapter of the Diversity Action Alliance was formed to foster diversity, equity and inclusion among communications professionals. As of 2020, data indicates that approximately 90 percent of employees in communications roles at Duke are white.

To address the lack of diversity among Duke Communicators, the steering committee was initially charged with developing recommendations for: identifying, recruiting, retaining, and promoting diverse talent in the communications profession at Duke; embedding diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism in our central and local communications strategies, programs, and content; enhancing opportunities for professional development and support through both existing initiatives and new programs; and establishing goals, measures, and processes for tracking progress in a highly decentralized environment.

History

The Steering Committee was formed in July 2020, and began the work of determining how to take action on the recommendations. By summer 2021, five subcommittees were formed and more than 50 communicators from across Duke volunteered to serve on one during the 2021-22 academic year.

Early accomplishments include creating a successful mentorship program; conducting an analysis of Communicator responses to Duke’s climate survey; conducting focus groups for Communicators of color and participants in the NCCU internship program; compiling resources for inclusive communications, inclusive talent recruitment and searches, and ethical imagery; and hosting workshops for Duke Communicators on privilege.

Our work continues in 2024 with renewed support from the Office of Communications and Marketing. The organization’s structure has been reconfigured to operate functionally in teams rather than subcommittees.

The work to help communicators embed diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism throughout their work and provide professional development training has also been renewed. Join us for one of the following events, designed specifically for Communicators.

Events

Friday, Sept. 20
DAA at the Mary Lou: A Conversation with Five Black Faculty
10:00-11:30 a.m.
Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture
https://duke.is/DAAatMaryLou

Friday, Oct. 18
Black Durham Bus Tour
9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Whistle Stop Tours

Friday, Oct. 25
Trans 101 Training
9:30-11:30 a.m. 
Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity
Bryan Center
https://duke.is/DAAatCSGD

Wednesday, Nov. 20
Been Here, Still Here: History of Muslims and Islamophobia in the United States
9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
Center for Muslim Life
Rubenstein 153 (Holsti-Anderson Family Assembly Room)
https://duke.is/DAAMuslimLife

Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025
Honoring Diversity and Catalyzing Belonging through Inclusive Communications 
8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Trent Semans Great Hall
Register now

Tuesday, April 22
Recognizing and Interrupting Ableism in the Workplace
Duke Office of Institutional Equity
10-11:30 a.m.
Rhodes Conference Room 223, Sanford School of Public Policy
Register now

Teams 

Communications

Team Lead: Elizabeth Thompson

This team will build and maintain a dedicated website with news, events, and features. They may also contribute blog posts with takeaways, photos and videos to the website. They will highlight important data points/milestones for the Communicators network, create handouts, and other materials to promote DAA and recruit volunteers.

Data Collection and Analysis

Team Lead: Ben Kimmel

This team is responsible for tracking demographics, analyzing survey results, and conducting focus groups. They will work closely with the Office of Institutional Equity to analyze responses to the annual culture survey. In addition, they will assemble demographic data for the national DAA report and share data with Duke leadership, the Communicator’s Network and the broader Duke community.

Events

Team Lead: <vacant>

The events team will brainstorm event ideas to support our mission/goals and support the work of other teams. Events might include workshops/trainings, speakers/presentations, field trips, and social or team-building events. They will manage scheduling, securing space, catering, directions/parking as well as room layout and technical needs.

Mentorship

Team Lead: Catherine Angst

This team focuses on developing mentorship opportunities for people working in communications at Duke. Their initial action item was to determine, put structure around, and streamline a process for identifying mentors and mentees, guiding their interactions, and providing them with resources.

Resources:

Professional Development 

Team Lead: <vacant>

This team focuses on helping to empower communicators of color in their careers by providing and centralizing educational resources. Their initial action items were to identify and develop ways to hear from Duke experts on topics relevant to diversity, such as lunch and learns or fireside chats, and to begin building a library of resources that they can access to supplement their learning.

Resources:

(inactive) Recruitment & Retention  

This team focused on how to effect and track change in HR practices despite operating in a very decentralized environment; and on how to use recruiting and hiring to build a more diverse workforce in communications. Their initial action items were to find opportunities to work with Black and BIPOC communities to build and widen pipelines for identifying talent. This group also conducted a climate survey of communications professionals at Duke to help identify and understand the workplace environment and the ability of managers to nurture and retain talent.

Resources:

(inactive) Content

Co-Chairs: Bernadette Gillis and Jennifer Sider

This subcommittee focused on how do we do a better job of representing people and communities of color in our daily work as communicators. Their initial action item was to create guidelines for ethical use of images, building off previous work by the Duke Global Health Institute.

Resources:

Steering Committee

Co-Chairs: Camille Jackson and Andrew Park 

The Steering Committee for the Diversity Action Alliance at Duke provides guidance, resources, and planning for the five subcommittees outlined above. Working together with these subcommittees, the steering committee gathers deliverables and compiles a report summarizing DAA activities at the end of each semester.  

Resources:

If you would like to become involved with the Diversity Action Alliance at Duke, please email Camille or Andrew with any questions or area of interest. An academic year commitment is preferred.