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Commission on Diversity unveils plan |
| By
Deanna Woolf |
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Jan 16, 2006 |
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“Without diversity, we will not have academic excellence,” said Dr. Carol Bresnahan, vice provost for academic programs and policies.
That concern has been on the minds of many at the University, prompting President Dan Johnson to form the President’s Commission on Diversity in December 2002 with Dr. Alan Goodridge, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and enrollment, and Dr. Johnnie Early, dean of the College of Pharmacy, as co-chairs. Since then, the commission members have met monthly to hear reports and hold discussions. Now they have issued the Plan for Diversity — recommendations of programs and policies that will make the campus community more diverse and reflective of the metropolitan population.
“This plan is a demanding, ambitious plan,” said Bresnahan, convener of the commission.
“The really good thing is that it shows the University does have a commitment to diversity issues,” said Martino Harmon, interim director of the African-American Student Enrichment Initiatives Office and commission member. “It shows we’re serious about exploring and looking for ways to improve the University.”
Both acknowledged the pace of the commission was not as brisk as hoped. “It took quite a while because the committee proceeded slowly and deliberately. But it had a lot of work to do starting from ground zero” such as defining diversity, Bresnahan explained.
The definition of diversity is one of the commission’s recommendations that has already been implemented. The commission recommended or supported other initiatives, including the Anti-Harassment Policy, the Minority Graduate Fellowship Awards, rotating the day of commencement, Primos, the Women’s Leadership Council and the African-American Student Enrichment Initiatives Office, which Harmon described as a “product in the interest of retaining students of color,” a specific issue the commission wanted to address.
The Plan for Diversity calls on the University community to:
• Create an administration position charged with overseeing diversity;
• Develop more effective student recruitment and retention strategies to more proportionately reflect the metropolitan community;
• Implement domestic partner benefits;
• Diversify the public portraiture at the University;
• Create an annual diversity series;
• Establish diversity training for all employees;
• Develop more effective faculty and staff recruitment and retention strategies to promote diversity; and
• Promote and support research on diversity.
The entire plan, including additional recommendations, can be read at http://www.diversity.utoledo.edu/index.asp?id=115.
Bresnahan explained the subcommittees are prioritizing recommendations before the commission meets Jan. 19. They will decide the order of implementation and will finalize the plan.
While the commission’s work is not yet done, the members already feel they have changed and benefited from the experience. “People started to see the diversity of diversity,” Bresnahan said of the meetings. Harmon said, “I have learned and grown as an individual from being at the table with people from different backgrounds and viewpoints.”
And they hope with the plan being implemented, the UT community will do the same.
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