Second Annual
Equal Employment Opportunity Conference
November 13 and 14, 2007
Emerson Alumni Hall
1938 W. University Ave., Gainesville, FL
Who can attend
The EEO conference is directed toward public universities, community colleges, and the community.
Conference Focus
Our focus will be recent EEOC guidelines pertaining to Affirmative Action Plans, diversity training, sexual harassment and discrimination investigations, and college/university regulations.
Cost
This highly informative conference is free, courtesy of the
Hotel
UF Hilton Group Booking web site or call 1-800-HILTON and provide the Group discount code "UFR." The reserved rate is $139/night.
Registration Form
Download now
If you believe there are others at your institution who may benefit from this conference, please forward their contact information to our office.
Agenda
November 13
5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Reception with entertainment
at Emerson Alumni Hall by No Southern Accent, UF'S A Capella Group.
November 14
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Main conference events
8:00 - 8:30
Continental Breakfast and Registration, Welcome
Kyle Cavanaugh, Senior Vice President for Administration, University of Florida
8:30 - 9:15
Higher Education Discrimination and Harassment Cases – Deal or No Deal
Cecil Howard, Florida Commission on Human Relations
Janet Balanoff, University of Central Florida9:15 - 10:30
OFCCP Reviews and Investigations
Leonard J. Biermann, National Employment Law Institute10:45 - 12:15
Diversity Training In Higher Education
Dr. Steve O. Michael
12:15
Lunch1:15 - 2:30
Investigations in Higher Education
Cecil Howard, Florida Commission on Human Relations
2:45 - 3:45
The Affirmative Action Plan: Compensation Analysis, Race Codes, Comparing Incumbency to Availability
Leonard J. Biermann, National Employment Law Institute3:45 - 4:30 (concurrent sessions)
Human Resource Council
Shelia Daniels, Indian River Community CollegeCouncil on Equal Opportunity
Cheryl Seals-Gonzales, Florida Gulf Coast University
Keynote Speakers
Janet Park Balanoff is the Director of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Programs at the University of Central Florida. The mission of her office is to encourage the campus to end discrimination based on race, gender, national origin, age, religion, disability status, marital status, parental status and veteran's status. Outreach programs to the community include efforts to diversify the faculty, staff, and student enrollment. Balanoff holds a Master of Science in Public Administration from the Florida State University and a Bachelor’s in Journalism from the University of Florida.
Leonard Biermann is the National Employment Law Institute’s Director for Human Resource and Affirmative Action Activities (NELI). In this capacity, Mr. Biermann offers the employer community training and consultation on issues surrounding affirmative action, corporate management audits and compensation, recruitment, testing, selection, promotion and other personnel activities. In addition, he provides expert testimony related to sexual harassment, non-discrimination and affirmative action issues. He is the author of The Corporate Management (Glass Ceiling) Reviews Manual, the definitive resource for preparing for OFCCP “Glass Ceiling” audits.
Shelia Daniels, MPA, SPHR, brings 20 years of both private and public sector Human Resource management experience to her current position as Dean of Human Resources at Indian River Community College. She has held executive human resource positions in the financial services and legal industries, and her public sector experience encompasses both community college and K-12 institutions. Shelia holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Florida Atlantic University and has achieved her professional certification at the level of Senior Professional in Human Resources. She currently serves as the Chair of the Florida Community Colleges HR Council and is a member of the Society of Human Resource Management, St. Lucie County Human Resources Association and National and Southern Region CUPA-HR. Shelia and her staff at IRCC have been honored as the recipients of both the 2007 Southern Region and 2007 National Award for “Best Practices in Human Resources” by the College and University Professional Association (CUPA).
Cecil E. Howard is a 1981 graduate of Florida State University and a 1984 graduate of Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Since 2001, he has served as General Counsel of the Florida Commission on Human Relations. In addition to his duties as General Counsel, Cecil manages the FCHR mediation unit and has created several training programs for FCHR investigators as well as employers.
Prior to his employment with the FCHR, Cecil maintained a private law practice and concentrated in the areas of employment law and municipal law. He has also served as City Attorney for the City of Midway, Florida and as an adjunct instructor at Florida A&M University. Cecil is a frequent seminar speaker, having conducted seminars or trainings for the SHRM-HR Florida Conference, the National Association of Human Rights Workers (NAHRW) National Conference, the Florida Civil Rights Conference, the Florida Elder Affairs Conference, Lorman Educational Seminars, and for many Florida Bar topical seminars, just to name a few.
Cecil’s professional affiliations include the Florida Association of Community Relations Professionals (Board member), Florida Bar (Employment Law Executive Council member), and National Bar Association.
Dr. Steve O. Michael is Vice Provost with the supervisory role over diversity, undergraduate studies, international affairs and the Faculty Professional Development Center at Kent State University. He is also the administrator of Ohio Academic Leadership Academy (OALA) - an Inter-University Council program for preparing future academic administrators for Ohio’s public Universities. His administrative experience includes directorship of the Center for International and Intercultural Education and interim Associate Deanship of Education. Dr. Michael was an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow in 2000-2001 under the President of Carnegie Mellon University. He also served part of his fellowship year under the Vice-Chancellors of the City University of London and the University of Bath in England. Steve Michael is a professor of higher education administration with a specialization in higher education finance and strategic management.
Dr. Michael’s research interest includes the application of business strategies to institutional management. He has also published widely in most of the leading international and national refereed journals in the field of higher education on topics such as diversity in higher education, cost reduction analysis and financial constraints in higher education, presidency and trusteeship, academic program reviews and discontinuation, and marketing of higher education.
Dr. Michael was a British Commonwealth Scholar and the first recipient of the Sheffield Award for the best article published in the Canadian Journal of Higher Education (1992). The article focused on Entrepreneurialism in Higher Education. His awards include: the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, the Outstanding Faculty Award from Phi Beta Delta, Dean’s Award for professional achievements, and a letter of recognition from the Governor of Alaska.
For several years, he served as the Liaison Officer for the Educational Management Association of South Africa. On the invitation of the former Minister of Education of Moldova, he became the first keynote speaker for the country’s premier international conference on Higher Education. Dr. Michael is a member of the Editorial Board for the International Journal of Educational Management – the leading international refereed journal on education management as well as the associate editor of the Journal of Research in Education. He serves as a reviewer of USAID/ACE International development grants and sits on the Board of Project GRAD of Akron, Ohio. His latest book is entitled Financing Higher Education in a Global Market. He is a graduate of the Harvard Institutes for Higher Education.
Cheryl Seals-Gonzalez began her tenure in May 2006 as the first Director of the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance at Florida Gulf Coast University, after having worked in a similar capacity at Florida State University for a decade.
She has a combined 18-year track record of experience in equal opportunity, compliance and diversity coordination in higher education, banking/finance and city government. At FSU, her work included supplier diversity efforts for over a year and service as the Employee Ombudsman.
She was co-founder and president of the Capital City Chamber of Commerce, Inc., Leadership Miami, Leadership Tallahassee, and served as an appointee by the City of Tallahassee Mayor and local commissioners to various advisory boards, councils, and committees in the arts, small business, mediation, and youth programs. In addition, she has received numerous awards for work in the non-profit sector.
She is currently Executive Vice President of the Florida Black Chamber of Commerce, member of the Dunbar Festival Committee, and recently became a life member of the NAACP through the Collier County Branch, and a member of St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Immokalee. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism with a double minor in finance and economics from Florida A&M University where she graduated magna cum laude, and a Master of Arts degree in conflict resolution from The McGregor School/Antioch University.
Contact Us
If you have any questions please feel free to contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Office
at the