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WUTC And Diversity

WUTC AND DIVERSITY

Diversity is the unending pursuit of meaningful inclusion in the face of historic and present-day exclusion.

WUTC serves an increasingly diverse metropolitan area and region that we aim to authentically reflect. We recognize that diverse and inclusive communities serve as rich learning environments that cultivate growth in both intellectual knowledge and philosophical perspectives. We aspire to create and sustain a broadcasting community that includes and values diverse experiences, ideas, passions and talents toward enriching the experience for all.

WUTC is committed to ensuring that its workforce and programming reflect the diversity found in the communities it serves. Central to WUTC’s mission, vision and values is maintaining a governing and workplace environment which recognizes and celebrates the power of diversity. WUTC strives to create and foster a supportive environment in which all individuals can be successful and reach their full potential within the organization.

WUTC seeks diversity in its workforce and advisory board, including diversity as found in considerations that extend beyond race and gender to include disability, religious belief, age, culture, sexual orientation, physicality, education and socio-economic status.

WUTC is an equal opportunity employer that seeks to recruit a diverse work force and explicitly forbids discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, marital status, military status, citizenship or any other legally protected status in accordance with applicable local, state and federal law.

Overarching WUTC’s diversity commitment is our affiliation as a non-academic unit of the Division of Communications and Marketing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. WUTC embraces and supports the University’s 2020-2025 Strategic Plan and its goals and priorities in support of enhancing diversity, namely:

  • Building a community that cultivates and respects diversity as essential for UTC success and regional competitiveness
  • Modeling inclusive excellence through diverse representation and aligned benchmark indicators

Toward these goals, WUTC has prioritized the following actions:

  • Promote and support existing programming and support development of additional, new programs that reflect our commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity and justice.
  • Facilitate the coordination and delivery of programming that features voices from underrepresented groups toward fostering communication and learning across platforms.

In support of these priorities, WUTC is engaged in or pursuing the following:

  • Since 2019 broadcasting two live, locally produced talk shows Monday through Friday that focus specifically on content provided by local community members and groups including those advocating for education, minority organizations and efforts focused on the arts. 
  • Since 2020 partnering with the RISE project of the University’s academic Department of Communications that develops broadcast radio and podcast content intended to elevate minority issues and concerns. RISE produces and hosts a weekly hour-long radio program that is also archived as a podcast, and this archive made available from www.wutc.org as a podcast library that has resulted in more than 11,000 clicks or podcast downloads to date. 
  • In 2021, partnered during Fall Pledge Drive with local internet service provider, EPB, in promoting support for its program to bring high-speed internet to the home of every student in Hamilton County in trying to close gaps in access to online learning as that had been made a staple by the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • In May 2022, as a result of an intentionality in both (1) diversifying our student workforce and (2) supporting the University’s Communications program effort to create opportunities for diverse students of exceptional potential, hired a part-time social media assistant of Hispanic origin into a temporary/summer position. The student is an asset to our efforts to broaden online reach beyond traditional communities, and as a result of her demonstrated value has been offered the position throughout the remainder of her undergraduate career.
  • Starting August 2022, the La Paz-Chattanooga organization hosts a monthly one-hour conversation on issues of importance to the area’s Hispanic community. Participating in and recording these conversations will involve several students from the University’s Communications program, and these students will assist WUTC personnel with converting recordings to podcasts that will be made available for listening or download from www.wutc.org.
  • Continually seeking programming reflective of the diversity of our Tennessee Valley service area through a combination of partnerships involving entities of our campus and community by inviting and recruiting proposals for taking advantage of existing opportunities or creating new ones. Since its 2019 launch, our “Scenic Roots” daily, live local program has given a kickstart to these efforts as a vehicle for recruiting diverse voices and for its capacity to establish a level of comfort and trust in members of diverse or historically underrepresented communities.

Further, WUTC adheres to the following University guidelines on diversity:

Student workers at WUTC, whether in part-time jobs, internships or on Federal Work Study employment, also are covered by the above policies.
This Diversity Statement is reviewed annually with WUTC’s Licensee Official, the UTC Associate Vice Chancellor for Communications and Marketing.