EMU Today

Ypsilanti — Eastern Michigan University’s student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has been awarded a 2020-2021 Outstanding Student Chapter designation by the national organization for providing superior growth and development opportunities to its student members.

Only 12 schools nationally were chosen for the honor, which is the society’s highest award. More than 200 schools applied for the award.

The EMU SHRM Student Chapter project focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I). “Our primary goal was to bring awareness about diversity, equity, and inclusion to our students,” said Dr. Anushri Rawat, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, Associate Professor of Management and co-advisor for the student group. “Further, we wanted students to gain an understanding of the role of HR professionals in enhancing DE&I efforts in organizations.

“As a chapter, we decided to have three focus areas for our DE&I project: (1) education, (2) dissemination and (3) engagement. To ‘educate’ students, we held a DE&I speaker panel event for our students and organized two training workshops. To ‘disseminate’ information about DE&I, we created a brochure and website that included information about DE&I efforts in organizations and the resources available to EMU students. This brochure was provided to all students taking the Introduction to Business and Human Resource Management courses in Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 semesters. Finally, the students ‘engaged’ by actively volunteering with two local non-profit organizations.”

Dr. Fraya Wagner-Marsh, SHRM-SCP, GPHR, SPHR, Professor of Management, and co-advisor for the student group, said she’s extremely proud of the officers and members of the EMU student chapter of SHRM for winning the Outstanding Student Chapter Award. “Our chapter has won the Superior Merit award for the past 28 years and has won the top award 18 times since the award was created in 2000,” said Wagner-Marsh. “This record is impressive and an indication of the hard work and dedication of the EMU students.”

The EMU chapter was chartered in 1995 and currently has more than 60 student members. Faculty co-advisors include Dr. Wagner-Marsh, Dr. Anushri Rawat, and Jim Krolik.

“The members of our SHRM student chapters represent the next generation of HR leaders, and it’s critical to highlight the instrumental role they play in SHRM’s success,” said Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, SHRM president and CEO. “The hard work of EMU SHRM Student Chapter shows the future of the profession is, indeed, in good hands. I applaud their accomplishments and ability to foster innovative programming, development and interest in HR as we navigate changing workplaces.”

SHRM has more than 450 affiliated student chapters with more than 15,000 student members. SHRM student chapters have the opportunity to earn an award based on the number of activities they complete during the merit award cycle.

The SHRM Student Chapter Merit Award program encourages the development of more effective student chapters and distinguishes outstanding activities and projects. Chapters are recognized based on operations, chapter programming and professional development of members, support of the human resource profession, and SHRM engagement.

For additional information, visit the EMU student chapter of SHRM Facebook page.

About Eastern Michigan University
Founded in 1849, Eastern is the second oldest university in Michigan. It currently serves 16,000 students pursuing undergraduate, graduate, specialist, doctoral and certificate degrees in the arts, sciences and professions. In all, more than 300 majors, minors and concentrations are delivered through the University's Colleges of Arts and Sciences; Business; Education; Health and Human Services; Technology, and its graduate school. EMU is regularly recognized by national publications for its excellence, diversity, and commitment to applied education. For more information about Eastern Michigan University, visit the University's website.