The President's Multicultural Advisory Committee submitted
diversity statistics and recommended strategies for the 2008-2013
Strategic Plan and is included under the Global priority
section:
Multi-Cultural Diversity
As a Catholic, Vincentian and metropolitan institution of higher
education, we recognize the importance of a diverse population, not
only with respect to students, but also with respect to the
faculty, administrators and staff who serve these
students. Our location in the most diverse county and
one of the most diverse cities in the country has enabled us to
naturally attract a very increasingly diverse student body based on
gender, race/ethnicity and religion. (Appendix B).
Our St. John’s community recognizes and consistently identifies
student diversity (in surveys and focus groups) as one of the top
strengths of the University. The 2009 Edition of The Princeton
Review Annual College Guide to the Best 368 Colleges ranked us #17
in the category of most diverse student populations. A higher
percentage of our seniors in comparison with peer institutions in
the 2008 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) indicated
that the campus environment encouraged contact among students from
different economic, social and racial or ethnic backgrounds.
As documented under accomplishments in the earlier part of this
document, we have made some progress in diversity recruiting,
awareness and other areas over the last planning cycle. While we
celebrate the progress that has been made, we recognize that
continued focus should be placed on ensuring that students of all
ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds feel welcome and are
prepared to succeed in an increasingly interconnected global
environment. The President’s Multicultural Advisory Committee
(PMAC) has developed recommendations on various aspects of
diversity in context of the strategic direction and priorities and
several elements of the Committee’s recommendations have been
incorporated into this Strategic Plan.
Strategies
- Continue to provide training in multicultural awareness and
skill building with an emphasis on faculty development through the
Center for Teaching and Learning.
- Continue targeted efforts to increase representation of
faculty, administrators and staff to achieve institutional
targets.
- Implement student and academic initiatives that continue to
foster cross cultural appreciation such as those outlined in this
plan under the UN Millennium project and enhancing the global
curriculum, and introduce a voluntary Language Bank to identify
students and employees who are proficient in different languages,
and can help students/parents with translation and communication
services.
- Continue to monitor demographic trends and implement outreach
strategies to address our most at-risk students, many of whom are
students of color.
- Continue to update and encourage broader application for
students of the Committee’s Course Offerings in
Multicultural/Ethnic Studies publication, which was developed with
assistance and support from the Deans to include courses that have
an explicitly global perspective.