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St. Cloud State University
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Diversity promoted
By Ashwin Raman
Published:
Thursday, October 30, 2003
Ashwin Raman
Staff Writer
The Cultural Diversity Committee is seeking proposals that will address cultural diversity from the faculty, staff, management and students at SCSU.
At the moment, the cultural diversity initiative has placed guidelines for proposals to emphasize students, faculty recruitment and retention.
The committee will give priority to proposals that may lead to the advancement of success for students of color that will lead to higher graduation rates.
These proposals, for example, may focus on academic activities or methods to increase the number of students from racial and ethnic minority groups on campus. The purpose of these proposals is to obtain monetary support from the Cultural Diversity Committee. The committee will then evaluate these proposals before being approved, said Robert Johnson, service chair for the committee.
The effort to obtain proposals that address cultural diversity began in 1988 and is done twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall.
"This started as a system wide effort by the Minnesota State University System," Johnson said.
These current requests for proposals will be for the 2003-2004 academic year, including the summer of 2004.
Some of these proposals may emphasize improving the campus and community in ways that will enhance cultural diversity. One of the projects of that nature that was approved in the 2002-2003 academic year was a display at the Miller Center of a leased exhibit that was created by the Science Museum of Minnesota.
The display was titled, "Science with Soul: African American Scientists and Inventors: Historic Highlights." Pamela Salela, assistant professor of Learning Resources and Technology Services, submitted the proposal for that display.
According to the report submitted after the display, which was provided by Jackie Zieglmeier, clerical support for the committee and a visiting scholar from Nigeria's Federal University of Technology, Emejulu A. Obiajulu, Salela began a conversation about a joint project that may provide educational enhancement to the youths in Nigeria.
One other proposal approved was the funding received by several student organizations such as Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), Asian Students in Action, Hmong Student Organization, American Indian Student Organization, Council of African American Students and the African Student Association to attend national conferences.
Johnson said that these projects overall have been bringing positive results and have been helpful in retaining minority students.
"These projects are to support them so they can be successful academically, socially and culturally," Johnson said.
As in the case of the funding received by the student organizations to attend national conferences, the committee's report stated that the students returned with developed leadership roles and had built cultural awareness and identity through the networking with other college students and faculty.
Based on his experience, Johnson said he is expecting anywhere between 15 to 30 proposals for the 2003-2004 academic year.
"It all depends on the quality of the proposals. Any proposal that might meet the (Cultural Diversity Committee's) criteria will be funded," Johnson said.
The committee has also set the deadline for all proposals to be in by Nov. 14.
More Information
Proposals can be submitted to the Cultural Diversity Committee, c/o Academic Affairs. Contact Robert Johnson at 308-4928 for more information.
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