For three-and-a-half hours the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 5, the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs (EOP) will host a workshop aimed at outlining how it manages its activities and contributes to the effort of enhancing Emory’s diversity.

EOP’s Spring 2003 Resource and Information Module will take place from
8:30 a.m.–noon on Feb. 5 in the Rollins Room on the eighth floor of the Rollins School of Public Health.

“The goal is to help general managers and supervisors understand how useful EOP can be to them,” said Sylvester Hopewell, assistant director for equity in EOP. While the programming will be geared toward managers, all staff are invited to attend. Hopewell said EOP’s goal is to draw about 80 people, but more wouldn’t be a problem.

EOP staff members not only will be discussing the scope and responsibilities of the office, but also a variety of topics ranging from how Emory conducts job searches to ensure a diversity of candidates, to how EOP handles investigations into complaints of discrimination and harassment on campus, to how different types of disabilities are defined and dealt with.

While there will be some presentations, the majority of the module will consist of small-group activities with EOP staff interacting with attendees. Hopewell said a lot of the discussion will center on case rulings on different sorts of discrimination in the workplace (racial, sexual, disability, etc.). None of the cases took place at Emory, but their relevance is important.

Hopewell said EOP wants to be proactive by providing managers with information they could use to head off problems before they start, which would make everyone’s life easier.
“Our hope is to eventually visit individual departments and go into these areas in greater details through workshops and training sessions,” said Robert Ethridge, vice president of EOP. Ethridge added that the module is not a training program but rather an information dissemination session.

Another of EOP’s long-term goals, Hopewell said, is to become more interactive and introduce online Q&A capability.

Anyone wishing to attend the module is asked to RSVP by Monday, Jan. 13, at
404-727-6016. Refreshments will be provided.