Daily Staff Writer

The following is a partial list submitted by Iowa State President Martin Jischke of some of the initiatives aimed at advancing diversity at ISU. Diversity initiatives by individual colleges and major programs are not included:

* Minority student liaison officers. Minority student liaison positions were established in each college in l995-96.

* Ph.D. fellowship. The George Washington Carver doctoral fellowship program enrolled its first fellow in the fall of 1996. The program was created to recognize past academic excellence and potential for significant scholarly contributions among ethnic minority doctoral students.

* Diversity Steering Committee and the diversity plan. The Diversity Steering Committee was created in 1991 to focus on how the university could enhance its efforts to create a more hospitable environment.

* Diversity in the classroom. ISU faculty explored ways to bring more diversity into the classroom during a two-day symposium in April 1993.

* Developing administrative diversity. A new administrative internship program was begun in 1992-93 to help women and ethnic minority faculty and staff members gain experience in administrative positions.

* Diversity in the curriculum. Four senior faculty positions were created in 1994 under a provost’s initiative to increase diversity in the curriculum.

* Diversity requirement. Two three-credit curriculum diversity requirements, which will go into effect in 1997, were approved by Faculty Senate in May 1995.

* More diversity in the curriculum. During fall convocation 1996, President Jischke announced the creation of four additional faculty positions to help teach courses that meet the new undergraduate diversity requirement, which goes into effect in 1997.

* Campus climate surveys, coordinated by the Diversity Steering Committee, were conducted in November of 1991.

* George Washington Carver visiting scholar. This program was established in 1994 to broaden the educational experience of ISU students and enrich the campus climate by bringing scholars from under-represented groups to campus.

* Fostering cultural awareness. The Project Aware grant program was begun in 1994 to help faculty find ways to promote internationalization and multicultural awareness and to create a climate that is open to diversity in their departments and classrooms.

* Dialogues on Diversity (for faculty and staff). A four-part Dialogues on Diversity seminar on building an open community at Iowa State was offered by the Office of Training and Development to faculty, staff and graduate students in October and November 1996.

* Presidential Service Award. In spring of 1993, Nancy Eaton, dean of library services, became the first to earn the Presidential Service Award, an annual award that recognizes contributions to enhance diversity and multi-culturalism at Iowa State.

* Adult students. A task force, created in the fall of 1996 by the provost and college deans in FY95-96, is looking into ways Iowa State can better service students who are not full-time resident students.

* Making it easier to comment on campus issues. To get more input from the campus community on a variety of issues, including those involving diversity, a new online survey was started in October of 1996. The “What do you think?” survey asks ISU’s World Wide Web page readers to comment on specific issues on campus.

* Cultural enhancements. The university has provided financial support for minority community cultural enhancements, such as the ISU Minority Theatre and the Ames Few, to strengthen the minority community in Ames and to enable these programs to expand their efforts in other communities in central Iowa