Updated August 2020
SECTION 28 DIVERSITY & INCLUSION COMMITTEE
28.1 DUTIES AND SCOPE
The purpose of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee is to foster an environment in which all individuals are encouraged to participate and engage in Society activities and programs without regard to gender, race, age, national origin, sexual affiliation, gender identity, gender expression, affiliation, and other demographic factors. The Diversity & Inclusion Committee shall coordinate and promote activities across the Society that further the mission to serve and engage underrepresented groups in computer science and engineering. The Diversity & Inclusion Committee shall provide regular reports to the Board of Governors and recommend new initiatives to create a more diverse and inclusive Society.
28.2 MEMBERSHIP
The Diversity and Inclusion Committee shall consist of a Chair and eight members with staggered two-year terms. By 1 January of each year, the IEEE Computer Society President shall appoint four members to the Diversity & Inclusion Committee for a two-year term. Consideration shall be given to ensuring diversity in the Committee composition in both individual demographics, such as but not limited to, gender, race, age, geographic location, and affiliation, and areas of engagement with the Society, such as but not limited to, conferences, publications, membership, standards, and education. Appointed committee members may not serve more than one consecutive two-year term. The Society President and Executive Director shall be ex officio, non-voting members of the Committee.
The Chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee shall be elected annually by the Committee membership. Only Committee members with at least one year of Committee service will be considered for the Chair election. The Chair may be re-elected for a total of two annual terms. If a current member of the Committee is elected Chair or is unable to complete their two-year term, the President will appoint an additional member to fill the vacancy.
28.3 DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The Diversity & Inclusion Committee shall:
1. Develop strategies to increase engagement of underrepresented groups within the IEEE Computer Society.
2. Develop strategies to increase representation of underrepresented groups and promote diversity within the Computer Society Board of Governors, program boards, committees, and membership.
3. Continually identify processes within the Computer Society that are barriers to representation and inclusion, and suggest improvements.
4. Support the T&C Board to promote Technical Committee initiatives and encourage best practices for IEEE CS sponsored conferences.
5. Support the MGA Board to promote diversity and inclusion in member engagement programs and chapter activities including the Distinguished Visitors and Young Professionals programs.
6. Support the SAB Board to promote industrial participation through the SAB Industry Engagement Committee.
7. Support the Publications Board to promote diversity and inclusion in Editor in Chief and Editorial Board appointments.
8. Support the Nominations Committee with its efforts to attract a diverse and inclusive pool of potential nominees to be considered for Computer Society leadership positions.
9. Promote diversity and inclusion with the Computer Society Awards and the IEEE Fellows committees and programs.
10. Collect, analyze, and set goals for diversity metrics across the Computer Society Board of Governors, program boards and committees, and major Society activities. Report progress toward goals to the Board of Governors annually.
11. Collaborate with IEEE committees and groups in diversity and inclusion.
Collaborate with other active groups in diversity, such as IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) Committee, CRA-WP and the Anita Borg organization. Recommend to the Computer Society President-elect the appointment of the Society representative to the IEEE WIE Committee.
