I would encourage anyone interested in learning more about diversity at Miami to visit the website to get a sense of the breadth of activity already instituted and the sincere commitment of many people to improve our campus. Augmenting this website will be an annual report on campus diversity by the President s Council on Multicultural Affairs. Among its other duties, the Council is charged with monitoring the degree to which we meet our institutional diversity objectives. The Council will issue a report on its findings near the end of each academic year. This campaign is part of a comprehensive recruitment effort aimed at increasing the number of minority students on campus.
Recent data show that efforts by deans and chairs to diversify the faculty are showing results.
The Division of Academic Affairs reports that student interest in making diversity issues part of the curricular experience has grown significantly. Faculty and staff interest in learning more about diversity also is increasing and there are numerous opportunities to do so. For example, last week, organizational change consultant Frances E. Kendall was here for two diversity presentations, one for faculty and one for the general community. The proposal to create a multicultural center on campus has now made its way through the study and consultative process and is in the final phases of preparation before presentation to the board of trustees. The Center for American and World Cultures could be approved as early as February 2000, and its addition will open up many opportunities for enhancing campus diversity.