September 23, 2006

Sally Mason made these comments to the Purdue Black Alumni Organization.

University action plan on diversity to be based on inclusion, equity

Good morning.

I'm going to build on what Martin has reported to you with some additional information and numbers.

But first, I want to take this opportunity to enlist your help in a project that has been in the making for a while.

Some of you know, because you've been involved with this, that in an effort to think long term about diversity issues, more than two years ago I convened a universitywide Diversity Leadership Group.

This group has been composed of faculty, staff, students and administrators from across the campus community. We spent a good deal of time examining current and past diversity efforts here at Purdue.

We talked to many different groups of people for input. And, as we had our conversations, the purpose of this group became to draft plans for institutionalized diversity efforts - most particularly, for improving the overall climate for diversity.

We talked about and identified key needs for faculty, students and staff. We talked about advancing our existing diversity initiatives. We discussed new initiatives. And we discussed the need to embed all our diversity initiatives firmly within the fabric of the university.

The plan that has been drafted is multifaceted. It is focused on inclusion and equity for all.

Because of this complex, multifaceted approach, we refer to the draft of this plan as our Mosaic. It is titled "Toward a Mosaic for Educational Equity."

It's a Purdue vision and action plan.

And where I need your help today, is we invite you to look at the draft of this plan and respond to a series of questions with your suggestions and reactions.

The plan makes some very specific suggestions on things we should do and investments we should be making to further diversity here at Purdue.

It grew from the ongoing multicultural and gender forums that hundreds of faculty, staff, students and alumni from across the university have participated in over the past four years. And it grew from the many and growing programs and activities (more than 200 now) that we have on campus that relate to our diversity initiatives.

It's on the Web for your review: www.purdue.edu/mosaic

When you get to this site, you'll see a list of the current members of the Diversity Leadership Group, the plan in its entirety and an executive summary, and a survey that you can use to provide feedback.

The plan includes spending this semester collecting feedback and making modifications to Mosaic. Then, in the spring, we hope to celebrate its completion and begin full scale implementation.

Just like we have done with the university strategic plan, we will report each year on progress (or lack thereof) and plans for continuing to improve or adjust as necessary. Our annual reports will be incorporated into the annual report on diversity that we give each spring to the board of trustees.

These are public documents which you can all see on the Purdue web site. Please, please give us feedback on Mosaic.

Secondly, this morning, I want to talk a bit more about numbers and diversity programs that are impacting hiring, enrollment, retention and graduation.

Let me start with faculty. We are in a unique period in Purdue's history. In fact, the past five years and the next five are, and will be, remarkable with regard to faculty hiring.

Most likely, two-thirds or more of the existing faculty will retire during this period. We are also in the enviable position of adding new faculty positions through our strategic plan.

We are literally changing the face and the attitudes of our university by focusing on diversity in these new hires.

In addition, to more women and minorities, in our largest colleges now, when new faculty are hired, they know that they will participate in a multicultural/diversity forum some time during their first two years here. They know this because it is written into their contracts.

Let me expand a bit on what Martin spoke about.

During the five-year period since I came to Purdue, we have hired 649 new faculty (which is almost a third of our existing faculty) and 59 percent of those hires have been women and minorities.

Let me break this down a bit more, because I know you're curious about our African-American faculty:

In 2000 there were 28 tenured or tenure-track African-American faculty here at Purdue and another 10 non-tenure track African-American faculty or lecturers. This fall, we have 52 tenured or tenure-track African-American faculty and 25 non-tenure track African-American faculty or lecturers.

These numbers are small, but they've doubled in just the past five years.

We'll continue working hard to attract minority candidates for faculty positions to Purdue and to grow these numbers across the disciplines. Our efforts are having an impact.

I would also tell you that in 2000 we had 25 African-Americans on the administrative staff, and today we have more than 50.

Very soon, I will have an exciting announcement about the appointment of a very distinguished African-American colleague to a senior leadership position here at Purdue Ñ this will be a first for Purdue. And later in the spring, stay tuned for two more senior-level appointments of African-Americans in the Office of the Provost.

We are moving in the right direction.

We are also increasing the number of domestic minority students in our graduate programs. This is the potential pipeline to the faculty and leadership positions in universities.

We are not only having success, we have positioned Purdue as a national leader in some fields.

This fall we have an enrollment of 281 African-American graduate and professional students. That's 1.4 percent more than last year, which is good because we've had a very good graduation rate in recent years, which can sometimes lead to declines in numbers instead of increases.

Of course, the vast majority of our students are undergraduates, and this is a central focus of our diversity efforts.

We have seen steady growth in minority undergraduate enrollment since 2000-01. We have also experienced solid growth in the percentage of minority undergraduate students.

The percentage of ethnic minority undergraduates has grown from 9.7 percent in 2000-01 to 13.1 percent this academic year.

The number of minority students in the freshman class this fall grew by nearly 15 percent over last year.

This fall there are 1,385 African-American students at Purdue in West Lafayette. That is a record and an increase of 2 percent over last year. It is also a 13 percent increase over 10 years ago.

Some of you here today remember the year 1970. Maybe you were enrolled at Purdue at that time. It was not that long ago.

The African-American undergraduate enrollment in 1970 was 332.

The Purdue of 2006 is a vastly different university from 36 years ago. And not just from a numbers perspective.

Purdue is a different university in terms of support systems, scholarships, aid for students and diversity training for faculty and staff.

Today, we take advantage of our existing students and alumni to help us enlarge the pool of minority students who might enroll at Purdue.

By being more aggressive and targeted in our recruiting, we are attracting more minority inquiries leading to more minority applications for admissions. This has led to more enrolled minority students.

All of our numbers are up.

Inquiries among all minority students are up 64 percent from five years ago. Applicants are up 73 percent from 10 years ago. And you can see from our numbers this year that admission and enrollment continue to rise over this 5-10-year period.

This fall we welcomed 292 African-American first-semester students to our campus, up from 232 last fall.

We're doing some new things in the recruitment arena to help keep these numbers growing.

For example:

We are advertising in the Indianapolis market using media that focus on minority groups.

Two years ago we, for the first time, became a major sponsor at Indiana Black Expo, and we'll continue sponsorship of the Indiana Black Expo for the foreseeable future.

Destination Purdue, a three-year-old program in which we invite admitted minority students to our university to see the campus and meet people had the highest attendance in three years.

We have partnerships with the Purdue Black Alumni Organization and the Purdue Latino Alumni Organization in the recruitment effort.

And we are holding more preview Purdue programs in larger cities where we know we'll reach a more diverse audience.

Minority staff hiring continues to be an area where progress is slower than we would like. But we are making progress, and we have added minority staff in key areas that impact our overall diversity efforts.

For example, in Agriculture we have hired an assistant dean and director of diversity programs, and a graduate coordinator of diversity programs.

In Education we have a new diversity initiatives director.

In Management we have a new director of diversity initiatives.

In my office, Kauline Davis has been named assistant to the provost with special responsibilities in diversity.

We have a number of innovative initiatives under way focused on diversity in the curriculum. This is a very important part of improving the learning environment at Purdue.

Our objective is to increase the number of undergraduate courses that offer diversity components.

But merely offering these opportunities is not enough. Our real objective is to increase the undergraduate enrollment in these courses. We are taking action to accomplish this.

All of our schools and colleges are being encouraged to develop courses with diversity components or to steer students toward at least one existing course.

Diversity programs sponsored by the university and organizations take place all year at Purdue.

Both Martin Jischke and I, along with many other people in administration, play an active role in many events.

The Black Cultural Center sponsors many programs, and last year, thanks to Renee's good work, our students visited Michigan to learn about Sojourner Truth and the Underground Railroad. They had the opportunity to hear a lecture by filmmaker Spike Lee, and to speak with him personally as well.

But these are just two examples of the many, many activities that the BCC operates for students We deeply appreciate the work done right here where you all are sitting this morning.

Last spring, I had the opportunity to meet and hear Herman Boone and Bill Yoast, the coaches portrayed in the movie "Remember the Titans." They came to speak at Purdue in February as part of an event co-sponsored by a number of student groups on campus, my office, athletics and student services.

The movie is the true story of a racially torn state championship football team. The Boone and Yoast lectures were jointly titled "Remember the Titans: Conflict Resolution and Unity."

They included the lessons of diversity, inclusion, combating racism, building teams and their experiences as coaches and the adversity they faced.

These are just some small snippets of the many, many very fine diversity-related activities that go on all around us all the time.

I'm proud of our success with diversity at Purdue.

With full support of the board of trustees, this success will continue in the years ahead.

We must not stop until our goals are reached.

Diversity is the responsibility of everyone at Purdue. And ultimately our success is based on each one of us as individuals doing our part to ensure that this university fosters a climate that values inclusivity and equity, assures respect for human dignity, and celebrates the incredible learning opportunities that emerge from diverse communities.

PBAO can and does play an important role in this, and I look forward to your participation as we finalize our Mosaic.

Thank you.

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