Current Projects
University-wide Diversity Planning Initiative
Under the leadership of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs, Edwin Marshall, we provide support to a range of activities focused on improving the climate for diversity throughout all of Indiana University. As called for in Adam Herbert and Michael McRobbie’s joint statement in May 2007, “Increasing Diversity at IU,” the longstanding Enhancing Minority Attainment initiative has been directed toward the development of campus diversity plans. We now support Vice President Marshall’s efforts to facilitate and monitor progress on those plans.
Enhancing Minority Attainment (EMA)
In 2000, IU began a multi-campus exploration of infusing diversity and equity into the higher education curriculum and enhancing the underrepresented populations of students, faculty, and staff. Since then, at a two-day Enhancing Minority Attainment Conference (EMA), faculty and staff have worked to develop and test a range of strategies to enhance teaching and learning and to transform the existing curriculum.
Self-study Diversity Portfolio
In 2006, as a mechanism to assess the current status of diversity and equity efforts, campuses were provided a diversity portfolio template and partnered with another campus to engage in an exchange of self-study, site visits, and peer feedback. During this process, campuses were directed to assess diversity across four dimensions:
- Institutional leadership and commitment
- Curricular and co-curricular transformation
- Campus climate
- Representational diversity
The purpose of the self-study and review was to enable campus teams to converse about the diversity work on partner campuses, leading to a judgment about campus- and system-wide strengths and challenges.
Campus Diversity Plans
Campus involvement in EMA and self-study activities served as the impetus in the formulation of Campus Diversity Plans. After Herbert and McRobbie’s May 2007 statement, the IU community developed campus-specific plans consistent with each campus’ distinct mission to increase underrepresented minorities in the enrollment of students, the recruitment of faculty and professional staff, and the utilization of minority- and women-owned businesses by the university. Campuses were asked to identify long- and short-term objectives addressing the four dimensions of diversity identified during the self-study process to meet diversity and equity goals, along with timeframes, responsible parties, strategies, performance indicators, fiscal needs, and potential challenges to implementing (or enhancing) these efforts.
