Oct. 26, 2006
Dear Diversity Advisory Council Members:
Our first Diversity Advisory Council meeting affirmed the value of bringing outside perspective to Northern Colorado’s diversity and inclusion initiative. Council members’ thoughtful comments and pointed questions left me with several things to think about. Your many collective years of experience will be crucial to the changes we intend to make on our campus.
Several council members asked about Northern Colorado’s mission. Distilled it to its simplest form, I’d say we’re about connecting with students. We get to know them by name. We reach out to them when they’re struggling. We help them find real-world experiences to prepare for careers. We’re big enough to give students choices and small enough to care who they are. As a result, our graduates become the bedrock of Colorado—teachers, nurses, business leaders and public servants who meet state needs.
Preparing that human infrastructure is our obligation as a public university. That’s also why we’re so interested in creating a diverse and inclusive campus. Nearly 90 percent of our students are Colorado residents. As our state’s population grows more diverse, we want to be a welcoming place for all Coloradoans. Our focus on preparing students to be productive citizens means they must be ready for work in a changing, diverse, global society.
Northern Colorado’s inclusion and diversity initiative is about much more than numbers. We’re investing in quality of life for our students and employees. We want our campus to be more diverse. But we also want it to feel like a different place. When campus community members can articulate that climate change and how it affects them in a positive way, we will have begun to succeed.
We’re seeking fundamental and systemic culture change at Northern Colorado, not a new list of rules. Your experience in transforming organizations gives you invaluable insight into how we can engage campus and the larger community in making these changes. We need your honest appraisal of what we’re doing now on our campus. At the November meeting, several campus community members will talk about diversity efforts in their areas. Our hope is to share enough information that you can offer advice on the effectiveness of our current efforts and suggestions about our next steps.
I’d like to thank you again for giving your time to Northern Colorado. If I may answer any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 970-351-1212 or kay.norton@unco.edu.
Sincerely,
Kay Norton