Commitment: AU will increase diversity among its faculty, staff and students

By Edward R. Richardson
Interim President

Over the course of the next several months, Auburn University will begin to implement a comprehensive strategic plan designed to establish diversity among its core values at all levels of the institution.

Put more simply, Auburn will soon begin to pursue increased diversity among faculty, staff and students in a more organized fashion and with the benefit of certain established goals by which it may measure its success.

However, it is important for all to know that the journey is not just beginning. For some time now, this university has known where it wanted - needed - to go. And we have been moving generally in the right direction.

What is different now is that we will have a map.

Our path to a more diverse Auburn - and to a culture that is more respectful of that diversity and its necessity in an increasingly global society - will not always be easy. Auburn will likely take baby steps before it can begin to take leaps. The competition for qualified minority students, faculty and administrators is fierce Colleges and universities throughout the country are beginning to realize the bene.ts of diversity to their missions and to seek out the best quali.ed, most motivated minority students and faculty. But, as more and more African American students populate our campus, as more and more women are given positions of authority, the pace of increasing diversity should gain momentum.

Auburn is well positioned with regard to implementing its diversity plan. AU has hubs for diversity-related activities in place in both the Provost's Office and its Center for Diversity and Race Relations. Also, the university now has staff among its recruiters who work specifically to recruit quali.ed minority students.

Already, the university has in place programs in the College of Engineering, College of Education and College of Sciences and Mathematics that are designed to increase the chances of success for minority students. The BellSouth Minority Engineering Program in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering has proven particularly effective. In 2004, thanks largely to this program and the helping hand it offers minority students in the early phases of the engineering curriculum, Auburn ranked 17th nationally in graduation of African Americans with bachelor's degrees in engineering - ahead of such schools as Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Purdue and Stanford.

There are also efforts to attract qualified minority faculty and retain those who are already in place at Auburn. AU's College of Business participates annually in the Ph.D. Project, a program that is designed to increase the diversity of its faculty by attracting African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans to business doctoral programs and that provides support while they are enrolled.

All these programs are exemplars for AU schools and colleges that have not yet taken equal steps.

Recently, AU's Athletics Department completed a thorough reorganization designed to more clearly de.ne lines of communication and chains of command. The changes made in athletics were based on sound management principles. Unfortunately, three jobs were eliminated, including two held by African Americans. At the same time, however, an African American, Virgil Starks, was named a senior associate athletics director, a position immediately below that of athletics director, making Starks the highest ranking African American ever in the department.

In fact, when the reorganization was complete, women and minorities held a full 44 percent of non-clerical positions within the Athletics Department. Of Auburn's eight upper level athletics administrators, two are African American and two are women.

It is my sincere hope and belief that, where this "controversy" is concerned, cooler and more deliberative heads will prevail. Auburn can and will reach its diversity goals. Now, with a strategic plan that contains both action items and clear goals nearing endorsement, we can continue our journey.

We know where we need to go. We know why we need to go there.

Now, we have a map.