Gerhild Williams, Ph.D., associate vice chancellor and special assistant for academic affairs, is chairing the committee. Joyce Edwards in the office of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is lending staff assistance. The committee was sparked by an ABS report citing the lack of minority faculty members on campus and by Wrighton's repeatedly-voiced conviction that only those schools with true diversity will be leaders in the next century. This is one component of a much larger effort Wrighton launched earlier this year to increase campus diversity. If we want to lead and nurture leaders, we must do so with the very best faculty.
Diversity is one part of the measure of that quality.
The database is being developed so that the University community will have an easily accessible list of potential minority candidates when recruiting faculty or students. Williams envisions the database as something that everyone conducting a search will use. In this context departments must be encouraged to always be on the lookout for minority candidates. The committee also plans to follow closely the careers of minority alumni from the Ervin Scholars and Chancellor's Fellows programs. If they stay in the academy, we remain interested in them.