Wright State recognized for serving as HERC lead institution

Wright State University was recognized for its role serving as the lead institution of Ohio-Western Pennsylvania-West Virginia HERC (Higher Education Recruitment Consortium).

Wright State has served as a HERC lead regional institution since 2018.

Established in 2000, HERC is a nonprofit organization composed of a diverse group of colleges and universities as well as research, medical and cultural institutions. Member representatives include faculty, staff, human resources professionals, institutional leaders and faculty relations experts.

The Ohio-Western Pennsylvania-West Virginia HERC, which was established in 2014, includes approximately 25 member institutions from Ohio, western Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Though HERC’s original goal was addressing dual-career and diverse faculty in higher education, the organization eventually branched out into hiring staff as well. Some regional branches have also reached out to non-higher education institutions such as hospitals and research labs that might be connected to a university.

Tonya Mathis, a Human Resources staff member at Wright State, serves as the regional director of Ohio-Western Pennsylvania-West Virginia HERC. She said human resource professionals who have worked with HERC before will often contact her about becoming a new member.

As regional HERC representative, Mathis is responsible for directing the day-to-day activities of regional events, engaging member institutions, and acting as a liaison between them and job seekers. Locally, she conducts outreach to job seekers through various community organizations such as the Dayton Veterans Affairs, Catholic Social Services Refugee Resettlement Program and Goodwill Easter Seals.

Tonya Mathis, a Human Resources staff member at Wright State, serves as the regional director of Ohio-Western Pennsylvania-West Virginia HERC.

Job seekers do not need to be HERC members and can view member listings and post their resumes and CVs on HERCjobs.

Full member institutions and non-member institutions can benefit from this diverse pool of potential candidates by posting listings on HERC’s job board. Non-members can purchase single job listings. However, only paid member institutions can benefit from the many resources that HERC has to offer.

All employees of member institutions have access to HERConnect, a centralized hub for sharing best practices about diversity and inclusion in higher education; Toolkits, which include actionable resources that can be integrated into existing efforts or serve as a starting point to reduce bias in your recruitment and retention processes; regional meetings, which offer members the chance to build local connections while diving into a topic related to equity and inclusion in the workplace; and job seeker outreach and support and member webinars, which share perspectives from leaders in the field of diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education.

Mathis is planning a webinar on some of the latest affirmative action rulings with the Center for Workplace Compliance, a HERC partner.