Goals for Success: Diversity

Frances Kendall, a nationally known consultant, was on campus in the fall semester to conduct five diversity workshops. Kendall met with the President's Council and University Executive Committee to discuss "Envisioning and Planning for a Diverse and Inclusive Future for NMSU," the faculty and staff in the Teaching Academy to discuss "Creating a Classroom and Work Environment that Facilitates a Genuinely Inclusive Institutional Culture" and hold an open meeting with students, "What Can You Do? The Student's Role in Creating a Diverse and Inclusive University." She also met with the deans and department heads to discuss "Assuming a Leadership Role in Creating a Diverse and Inclusive Learning Institution" and with the Diversity Council to discuss "Meeting an Institution Where It Is and Taking Leadership to Help Move It Forward." She has focused for more than 35 years on organizational change, diversity and white privilege and is the author of "Diversity in the Classroom" and "Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race." She was recently named a "Pioneer of Diversity" by Profiles in Diversity Journal.

Since 2002, the NMSU DreamMakers program for middle school tribal students has sharpened the math, science and computer skills of students on our Indian reservations. In addition to these classes, program facilitators took students to the Mescalero Fish Hatchery, Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands National Monument, further reinforcing what they learned in the classroom. The NMSU Indian Resource Development program also initiated a longitudinal study called DreamKeepers to assess how the program influences students' academic choices. This will be an effective way to track the progress of the DreamMakers program.

NMSU's Tribal Extension and the Agricultural Science Center in Farmington is helping the Crownpoint Boys and Girls Club to raise a garden as a demonstration of the Garden for Health project. The project is introducing gardening back into the Navajo lifestyle to improve wellness. Funds for the Garden for Health have been provided by the U-54 Partnership for the Advancement of Cancer Research, a partnership between the National Cancer Institute, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and NMSU.

In the fall 2010 semester NMSU launched a new program to help increase inclusion, diversity, equity and access called: the I.D.E.A. Grants. With funds made available to the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost through the Minority, Recruitment and Retention Fund, small grant awards will be made to support projects that promote a campus culture that champions the successful recruitment and retention of an increasingly diverse academic workforce and student body on the NMSU Las Cruces campus.

In the fall 2010 semester NMSU launched a new program to help increase inclusion, diversity, equity and access called: the I.D.E.A. Grants. With funds made available to the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost through the Minority, Recruitment and Retention Fund, small grant awards will be made to support projects that promote a campus culture that champions the successful recruitment and retention of an increasingly diverse academic workforce and student body on the NMSU Las Cruces campus.