An Affirmative Action Plan at NMSU is a strategic initiative aimed at advancing equal employment opportunities and fostering diversity. It entails scrutinizing workforce demographics, incorporating inclusive hiring practices, and addressing underrepresentation. The plan strives to cultivate a fair and equitable workplace by actively recruiting, developing, and promoting individuals from underrepresented groups. Continuous assessments and adjustments are made to ensure sustained progress toward a more diverse and inclusive workforce at NMSU.

Teresa Maria Linda Scholz, Ph.D., Vice President for Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity at NMSU, leads initiatives for inclusive excellence. Focused on attracting, supporting, and retaining diverse faculty and staff, the office adopts best practices from HSIs/MSIs. Dr. Scholz prioritizes robust engagement, climate assessment, and affirmative action plans to create a socially just and inclusive environment at NMSU.

New Mexico State University (NMSU) aims to advance Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (EID) across the NMSU system as a foundation for institutional excellence. Establishing a foundation and scaling a sustainable structure will promote shared responsibility and draw on the assets NMSU students bring to the institution. Thecommitment to Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity of and for students, faculty, and staff has a positive impact on retention and graduation, teaching, service, research, and Extension.

Goal 6:  Build, Elevate, and Strengthen Sustainable Systemwide Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Practices

An affirmative action program is a management tool designed to ensure equal employment opportunity. A central premise underlying affirmative action is that, absent discrimination, over time a contractor's workforce, generally, will reflect the gender, racial and ethnic profile of the labor pools from which the contractor recruits and selects. Affirmative action programs contain a diagnostic component which includes a number of quantitative analyses designed to evaluate the composition of the workforce of the contractor and compare it to the composition of the relevant labor pools. Affirmative action programs also include action-oriented programs. If women and minorities are not being employed at a rate to be expected given their availability in the relevant labor pool, the contractor's affirmative action program includes specific practical steps designed to address this underutilization. Effective affirmative action programs also include internal auditing and reporting systems as a means of measuring the contractor's progress toward achieving the workforce that would be expected in the absence of discrimination.

Equal employment opportunity (EEO) means freedom from discrimination on the basis of protected classes such as race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability or genetic information. EEO rights are guaranteed by federal and state fair employment laws and are enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and its state counterparts. 

Affirmative action plans (AAPs) define an employer's standard for proactively recruiting, hiring and promoting women, minorities, disabled individuals and veterans. Affirmative action is deemed a moral and social obligation to amend historical wrongs and eliminate the present effects of past discrimination. 

"EEO is giving everyone the same opportunity to thrive, while affirmative action is actively supporting those who’ve been consistently deprived of fair and equal treatment." ~ Resources for Employers