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Supplier Diversity Best Practices

Proposed Strategic Plan for Supplier Diversity

UConn’s Supplier Diversity Program (USDP) was recently mentioned in the initial draft of the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill’s “Proposed Strategic Plan for the UNC System to Increase Utilization of Historically Underutilized Businesses”.  This proposal highlighted UNC’S research results taken from interviews of different institutions, with the following key elements being attributed to UConn and others as examples of best practices:

  • Provide explicit, enthusiastic, and evergreen top-down support
  • Dedicate staffing and resources to supplier diversity
  • Empower university purchasers as economic changemakers
  • Celebrate successes

Northeastern Lab for Inclusive Entrepreneurship

Northeastern Lab for Inclusive Entrepreneurship

In a recent review of 114 New England higher education institutions (HEI) websites, Northeastern Lab for Inclusive Entrepreneurship discovered that only 12 had dedicated supplier diversity websites.  Of the 12 they noted three (3) examples of websites that “do an excellent job of incorporating and organizing information for diverse suppliers. These sites make a point of welcoming DSBs into their procurement system”:  University of Connecticut, Drexel University, and University of South Florida.  The full  report can be accessed here.

Following the release of the report, a webinar was held to discuss the results, featuring Drexel University and the University of Connecticut as panelists on April 11, 2023.

2023 Annual Meeting National Assoc. of Educational Procurement

On Tuesday, May 02, 2023, Veronica F. Cook, Executive Program Director proudly represented the UConn Supplier Diversity Program (USDP) in Orlando, FL, at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the National Association of Educational Procurement (NAEP). The University of Connecticut was part of a co-facilitated (with Grand Valley State University) session entitled “Supplier Diversity Member Mind Exchange”; and in accordance with its name, it resulted in an active exchange of ideas and experience focused key issues pertinent to supplier diversity. Cook and Rhodes-Sorrelle served on both the NAEP DEI Committee and the Supplier Diversity Sub-Committee during the period 2020-2023.

NAEP 2023 SD Member Mind Exchange - Orlando FL