THE
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE
DIVERSITY ACTION PLAN
PROGRESS REPORT
1999-2000
PART ONE:
PROGRESS TOWARD DIVERSITY ACTION PLAN GOALS
The
University of Maine Diversity Action Plan specified seven major goals
and many associated objectives. This report summarizes the progress
achieved toward each of the major goals. Challenges that remain in
several of these areas are also presented.
University Commitment
The
commitment of The University of Maine to diversity will be communicated
clearly and will be affirmed continuously. The University will annually
monitor and report on the action items contained in this plan.
President
Hoff’s State of the University address, given in September 1999,
included a strong statement of support for the University’s continuing
efforts to increase diversity among students, faculty and staff. Toward
this end, the President announced additional funding for UMaine’s
Opportunity Hire program, a search waiver and funding process that
includes diversity as one of the institutional objectives fostered by
the program. President Hoff has committed $50,000 in base budgeted funds
to support the implementation of the Diversity Action Plan. For the year
just ended, this campus allocation supplemented the $25,000 received
from the Chancellor’s Office.
The
Diversity Action Plan called for the University to host a statewide
conference on diversity, an activity which was to be a cornerstone of
diversity initiatives during this first full year of Plan
implementation. The College of Education and Human Development was
charged with coordinating the first such conference, which was held on
April 6-7, 2000.
The
conference planning committee decided to offer three types of workshops
geared for specific audiences: K-12 Education, Post-Secondary Education,
and Community/Workplace. The overall theme was examining the reality and
perception of race relations in Maine, the process and implications of change,
and strategies for identifying problems and finding solutions. Keynote
speakers were selected to inform, to stimulate candid discussion and to
emphasize the role and responsibility of the public and private sectors
in shaping opinion and advocating change. Keynoters were:
-
Jeannine Guttman, Editor and Vice President of
the
Portland Press Herald/Maine
Sunday Telegram, who gave an overview of changing Maine
demographics;
-
Darlene Clark Hine of Michigan State
University, an acclaimed author and historian of Black women’s
history and contributions;
-
Clarence Glover, Executive Director of
Multicultural Education at Dallas Public Schools and a national
lecturer and consultant on issues of intercultural relations and
racism.
A total
of 270 people attended the conference. The majority were UMaine students
(105) and UMaine employees (80). Additional participants included public
school teachers and administrators; professionals from other Maine
higher education institutions; as well as individuals from private
business and public/community organizations.
The
Diversity Committee has decided that, although a diversity related
conference will be an annual event, it should not always be hosted by
one college or focused on one topic. The topic and host of next spring’s
conference will be identified by the beginning of the fall semester.
The
awarding of Visiting Libra Professorships in Diversity continued this
year, bringing exceptional scholars to campus to interact with students,
faculty and community members through class presentations and public
lectures. The following individuals were designated Visiting Libra
Professors during this academic year:
-
Peggy McIntosh, Associate Director of Wellesley
College’s Center for Women and Founder of the National Seeking
Educational Equity and Diversity Project. Dr. McIntosh brought her
expertise in gender, race, peace studies, and inclusive education to
many campus groups in her three separate visits during the fall
semester. Her visit was sponsored by Peace Studies in the Division
of Lifelong Learning.
-
Dorothy Gilliam, journalist, author and lecturer
and Director of the Washington Post’s Young Journalists Project, was
hosted by the Department of Communication and Journalism. Ms.
Gilliam conducted two public lectures, visited many classes and
spoke with groups across the campus on the experience of African
American and female journalists in major mass media markets.
-
Dr. Terry Tafoya, Executive Director of Tamanawit
Unlimited in Seattle, came to
the University with two decades of experience in the areas of child
welfare, mental health, domestic violence, substance abuse and
cross-cultural communication. Co-hosted by the School of Social Work and
the Native American Studies Program, Dr. Tafoya keynoted a
conference of social workers and presented several lectures to
students and faculty on campus.
-
The University of
Maine’s National Poetry Foundation and the English Department
sponsored the visits of four distinguished African American poets,
beginning in the spring 2000 semester and continuing next fall. The
poets include Amiri Baraka, June Jordan, Jay Wright, and Lorenzo
Thomas. Mr. Baraka’s public lecture, for example, was attended by
over 200 students and faculty.
The
University of Maine Faculty Senate selects a Class Book each year, which
becomes a centerpiece of discussion in first year English courses, as
well as many other classes across the curriculum. Each spring, the
author of the Class Book is invited to campus to do a public lecture and
lead additional discussions on and off campus. The Division of Lifelong
Learning plans a community program around the Class Book as well. The
Class Book for the 2000-2001 academic year will be The Color of Water by
James McBride, which will provide a wonderful opportunity for
campus-wide discussion around diversity themes.
For the
second consecutive year, UMaine sent a delegation of faculty and
administrators to the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in
American Higher Education. This outstanding conference was held in early
June in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Over 1500 attended from throughout the
country. Workshops on curriculum transformation, diversity education,
affirmative action in student admissions and faculty recruitment were
among the topics covered. Seven individuals attended from The University
of Maine, three supported by their own departments, four by Diversity
Committee funds. UMaine had more participation than several states,
including New Hampshire and Vermont!
Faculty
and Staff Recruitment
The
University of Maine will intensify its efforts and make substantial
progress on the goals stated in the University’s Affirmative Action
Plan.
As of
fall 1999, the percentage of administrators, faculty and professional
staff (recruited nationally) who were from one of the four federally
designated minority groups was four percent. The percentage of
classified staff (recruited locally) who were minorities was two
percent. When these data are compared over a ten-year period, the
percentages have increased to some extent for most groups. Of particular
note is the increase of minority representation among assistant
professors (tenure eligible) from a low of one percent in 1995-96 to
seven percent for the year just ended.
The
University’s Office of Equal Opportunity plans an update to the
Affirmative Action Plan in fall 2000. This will provide a better picture
of progress toward specific affirmative action goals.
In the
fall of 1999, the Provost mandated briefings of each faculty search
committee by the Director of Equal Opportunity or her designee. The
President recently extended this requirement to all professional,
faculty and administrator search committees.
Procedures have been established within the College of Education
and Human Development which call for the Dean to monitor and approve the
content of faculty position announcements to ensure that they contain
statements pertaining to teaching diverse groups of students and
including diversity issues in curricular planning. The other Deans have
been supportive of efforts by the Office of Equal Opportunity to include
uch statements in all faculty position announcements.
Faculty
and Staff Retention
The
University of Maine will research retention rates for all categories of
University employees; the retention rates for all groups of diverse
employees will equal or surpass those of all employees in every
category.
Retention
of minority faculty and staff continues to be a challenge. Although the
numbers of minority employees are too small to allow for reliable
statistical comparisons, alternatives to anecdotal evidence of a problem
is needed. A task deferred to next year is the collection of data on
staff retention similar to the retention data already collected for
students.
The
University of Maine initiated a Center for Teaching Excellence this
academic year. Dr. James Berg, Director of the Center, has collaborated
extensively with the Diversity Steering Committee and has made diversity
a theme of many of his first year initiatives with faculty. Dr. Berg and
three other University faculty and staff attended the Association of
American Higher Education National Conference on Higher Education held
in California from March 31-April 2, 2000. The President’s Office funded this professional development
activity. One of the conference sessions that proved especially helpful
to Dr. Berg and his colleagues was on retaining faculty of color.
The
faculty within the College of Education and Human Development have
agreed upon Core Principles within the College Mission Statement which
include an expressed commitment to diversity in teaching and learning.
These principles constitute important contextual standards for peer
evaluation of individual faculty performance.
Curriculum Development and Transformation
Diversity
will be a valued part of all aspects of The University of Maine’s
curriculum.
The
University of Maine’s Diversity Action Plan designated the 1999-2000
academic year for careful review of options for implementing the
Diversity Across the Curriculum program. This program was to be modeled
after the University’s highly successful Women in the Curriculum
Program, which is administered through Women’s Studies.
On May 1,
2000, Provost Zillman sent a letter to all Deans, Directors and Chairs
announcing the implementation of the Diversity Across the Curriculum
(DAC) program, "designed to foster the efforts of individual faculty,
across the institution, as they transform curricula and conduct research
that better reflects the diverse voices of underrepresented groups. DAC
will accomplish its objectives through a summer faculty grant program
(beginning the summer of 2001) in addition to programming and other
initiatives throughout the fall and spring semesters."
Dr.
Zillman went on to announce that Dr. Maureen Smith, Director of Native
American Studies, will serve as the Director of DAC beginning August 1.
The President’s Office is funding an additional tenure line in Native
American Studies so that Dr. Smith may assume these new responsibilities
while her popular courses continue to be offered. Special funding is
also being provided to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to hire
a graduate assistant and an administrative assistant to be shared by DAC
and Ethnic Studies.
In
launching the Diversity Across the Curriculum program, the University is
also promoting close ties with the evolving Ethnic Studies program.
Ethnic Studies is envisioned as an interdisciplinary program with a
primary focus on ethnic groups of the northeast. The program will
initially be built upon the two existing interdisciplinary programs at
UMaine: Franco American Studies and Native American Studies, both
offered as minors within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The
University expects to appoint a Director of Black Studies by September
1, 2000. This individual will work with the existing Directors of Franco
American Studies and Native American Studies. It is expected that the
three programs will shortly co-locate and share both administrative
support and programmatic resources. Nevertheless, each of the three will
continue to have autonomy so that they can work with their respective
internal and external campus communities.
In
addition to the development of Ethnic Studies and the start of the
Diversity Across the Curriculum program, the Center for Teaching
Excellence sponsored an exciting activity that contributed to curriculum
transformation this year. The Center sponsored a number of Learning
Circles, small groups of faculty, staff and students who gathered
throughout the spring semester to discuss self- selected topics. Over
one hundred members of the campus community participated. Diversity
related topics included:
-
Integrating Native American Knowledge and History
Across the Curriculum;
-
Development of a Concentration or Minor in Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual Studies.
Learning
Circle participants shared their work in a May symposium and several
will continue their work next year. For example, the College
of Education and Human Development has received funding to continue
working on the inclusion of multiculturalism in teacher preparation
courses. Diversity is already addressed throughout the teacher education
curriculum. For example, this year all student teachers and interns
participated in a day long seminar on prejudice and hate language
provided by Stephen Wessler, a University of Southern Maine faculty
member who was formerly a Maine Assistant Attorney General.
Student
Recruitment
The
University of Maine will increase its percentage of students in each of
the federally designated minorities, as part of its overall strategy of
growing enrollment from approximately 9,000 to 12,000 students.
The
Office of Enrollment Management identified $70,000 during the 1999 fall
recruitment campaign for the recruitment of out-of-state students from
underrepresented groups. Twelve scholarships were offered, yielding four
enrollments. A special recruitment visitation weekend was held in April
for prospective students of color. Seventeen students traveled to UMaine
at our expense from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and
Maine.
Despite
these efforts, the goal of increasing the number of minority
undergraduates continues to be challenging. One explanation may be the
loss, last summer, of the Admissions staff member whose focus and
expertise was the recruitment of students of color. After two failed
national searches, the Director of Admissions has recently appointed a
graduating senior to this position. This new employee is African
American and has worked as a student employee in both Admissions and the
Career Center. However, the fact that this position
remained unfilled this past academic year may account for a failure to
increase the number of minority (not international) students committed
to entering UMaine this fall.
The
University completed work on a recruitment brochure targeted to minority
students. This brochure, supported with diversity funding from the
Chancellor’s Office, is being used both in direct mail solicitation and
as a handout during out- of-state recruiting visits.
The
Director of Admissions reports efforts this year to strengthen ties
between the Admissions Office and the Wabanaki Center, which traditionally recruits most of the
Native American students on campus. The two Directors met with the
Superintendent of the Maine Indian Education Association in Calais in
October to discuss bringing middle school Native students to campus for
an introduction to college life. The program will begin this fall. The
Office of Admissions now waives the application fee for all
self-identified Native American applicants, so that the process of
determining eligibility for the Trustee Tuition Waiver is expedited.
Student
Retention
The
University of Maine will retain students of federally designated ethnic
and racial minorities at a rate equal or greater than that of the
general student population.
The
Diversity Action Plan called for the inclusion of an optional Franco
American designation on the UMS application form. At the request of The
University of Maine Provost, that designation has now been added to the
UMS application. Beginning with the Class of 2004, we will have an
indication of the number of Franco American students, in addition to the
numbers of federally designated minority students, on campus. University
offices such as the Wabanaki Center, the Franco American Center, the
Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, as well as student
organizations, will be better able to target their services and
programs.
During
the past academic year, the Vice President of Student Affairs appointed
a Committee for Diversity and Unity in Residence Life. The mission of
the Committee is to recommend and evaluate services and programs to
assure an awareness, understanding, acceptance and practice of diversity
in residence hall life. The first priority is to measure minority
student needs and satisfaction, and minority student retention within
the residence halls. Further, the Committee coordinates educational
programming initiatives in the intercultural education and diversity
training for Housing and Residence Life staff, and reviews residential
policies and programs relative to minority student retention. The
Associate Dean of Students and Community Life, who is also a member of
the Diversity Committee, chairs this Committee.
University Climate
The
University of Maine will be a community in which diversity is supported
and all people are treated with respect and dignity.
The
Diversity Action Plan calls for a comprehensive assessment of the campus
climate and the curriculum relative to diversity. The Plan recommends
the use of both campus resources and consultant expertise in both of
these efforts. There was much discussion this year on how to move
forward with these recommendations. By mid year, the interim Provost and
the Steering Committee of the Diversity Committee had decided to put
this task off until next year. The incoming Provost is expected to take
a lead in determining the manner in which we should proceed. The
experience of the two campuses which undertook this effort this year,
and the discussion of that experience by the System Diversity Task
Force, will be helpful to the Provost’s and the Diversity Committee’s
deliberations.
Diversity
education through the First Year Experience courses offered in each of
the five academic colleges at UMaine received much attention during the
fall semester. The Assistant Director of Equal Opportunity spoke in 36
of these classes, reaching over 700 first year students. Other
administrators and professionals offered similar presentations in both
lasses and residence hall programs.
PART TWO:
DISTRIBUTION OF FY00 DIVERSITY FUNDS FROM THE SYTEM OFFICE ($25,000)
Diversity
Conference - $10,000
"Diversity Education: Race and Ethnicity," a statewide conference for
the public and private sectors, took place April 6-7, 2000 at The
University of Maine. It was a major conference attended by 270 people,
offering 16 different workshop sessions and three keynote speakers. The
College of Education and Human Development coordinated the event,
planned by the campus community and others from the broader statewide
community. Funding support helped keep the registration fee
affordable--$35, including two meals. The cost and quality of the
conference were highly ranked in evaluations submitted by participants.
Funding for travel expenses and honoraria enabled the conference to
attract nationally recognized keynote speakers: Darlene Clark Hines of
Michigan State University, an acclaimed author and historian of Black
women’s history; Clarence Glover, Executive Director of Multicultural
Education at Dallas Public Schools and a national lecturer on
intercultural relations and racism; and Jeannine Guttman, Editor and
Vice President of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram,
who spoke on Maine’s changing demographics and the role of the media in
framing inclusive news stories. Guttman and the vast majority of the
approximately 50 people who served as panelists in the various workshops
volunteered their time and expertise. Funding also assisted in the
design, production and mass distribution of conference promotional and
program materials.
Admissions’ Brochure - $7,000
The FY00
funds allowed the Office of Admissions to print its multicultural
recruitment brochure in four colors rather than two. The brochure is
being distributed at college fairs in urban areas and through direct
mail to targeted individuals and high schools.
First
Year Seminars - $8,000
Through a
Request for Proposals process, the College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences at The University of Maine awarded four grants to College
faculty for the development of new core courses in ethnic or
multicultural studies. These courses all met the General Education
requirement in Cultural Diversity and International Perspectives. The
awards of $2,000 each were made in May 1999 to:
Faculty
Member
Course Title
Doug
Allen Multicultural Philosophies of Self-Other Relations
Cynthia
Mahmood Transformation of Theory in Ethnic Studies
Marisue
Pickering International and National Issues of Language Use
Maureen
Smith Introduction to Ethnic/Multicultural Studies
PART
THREE: DIVERSITY INITIATIVES 2000-2001
In
addition to further implementing the action items outlined in the
present Diversity Action Plan (including conducting assessments of the
climate and the curriculum, as well as full implementation of the
Diversity Across the Curriculum program), The University of Maine will
revisit the planning process itself next year. Provost Kennedy will lead
the effort to link strategic diversity planning to the overall strategic
plan for the University, drafted by Interim Provost Zillman this past
year.
President
Hoff and Provost Kennedy have also been asked by the Steering Committee
of the Diversity Committee to re-evaluate the composition and structure
of the Diversity Committee. There is a concern that the size of the
Committee impedes its work. There is also concern that the group
responsible for actually implementing the action items of the Plan is
not well represented on the full Committee. A revised structure is
envisioned, one that includes a University/Community Diversity Committee
charged with providing input to and oversight of a Diversity
Implementation Group. The latter would consist of faculty,
administrators, and staff charged with carrying out the work specified
in the Plan.
Submitted
by:
Evelyn Stern Silver, Ph.D.
Director
Office of Equal Opportunity
