Voluntary self-identification of veteran status, disability, race, and ethnicity

From: Office for Equity and Accessibility

Virginia Tech invites employees to voluntarily provide demographic information, including race and ethnicity, veteran status, and whether they have a disability. While providing demographic information is voluntary, we encourage employees to review and update it, if needed. There are no negative impacts on employees who self-identify.

As a federal contractor, Virginia Tech is subject to certain nondiscrimination and affirmative action recordkeeping and reporting requirements. Beyond these requirements, self-identifying provides the university with information that we can apply to:

• Enhancements to our campus and work environment that benefit everyone.
• Assessing the effectiveness of recruitment efforts over time and improving recruitment strategies as needed.
• Enabling the university to fulfill our strategic priority to Elevate the Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) Difference and reinforce our core value of Diverse and Inclusive Communities.

Demographic information reported in university systems will be kept confidential and may only be used in accordance with the provisions of applicable federal laws, executive orders, and regulations, including those that require the information to be summarized and reported to the federal government for civil rights enforcement purposes. Collected demographic information will not be used in employment or promotion decisions.

Updating information:

To update demographic information, employees can log into Hokie Spa and select the Hokie Team tab, then select the following links:

• Employee Dashboard
• Click on "My Profile"
• Once you reach the Profile page, you should see an option in blue font on the left of the page that says “More Personal Information”
• Click on that link and when you arrive at that page, scroll to the bottom
• Under the heading, “Additional Details” is the option to add/change ethnicity/race, veteran classification, and disability status

Additional details on voluntary self-identification of demographic information are available on the Office for Equity and Accessibility website.

If you have questions, contact the Office for Equity and Accessibility at oea_aa@vt.edu or 540-231-2010.