Tarleton renews commitment to diversity

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 17, 2009

STEPHENVILLE, TEXAS—Tarleton State University recently renewed its long-standing commitment to fostering a spirit of diversity and inclusion through the restructuring of key areas across campus. Effective Sept. 1, the university announced its intention to create a Center for Global and Multicultural Initiatives (CGMI).

The CGMI will consist of the current Office of International Programs (formerly International Academic Programs) and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (formerly the Center for Diversity Initiatives) and will be headed by an assistant vice president who will report to the provost.

A nation-wide search will soon be launched for a suitable candidate for this position. Dr. Gary Peer, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, will oversee the center’s efforts until an assistant vice president is named.

The university revisited its commitment to cultural awareness and understanding following recommendations made by internal task forces. The Task Force on Diversity in the Curriculum, headed by Dr. Pat Zelman and the Task Force for Expanding our Horizons, chaired by Dr. Javier Garza outlined several steps Tarleton could make to further its diversity efforts.

Most notably, the programs and offices will now fall under the Division of Academic Affairs rather than the Division of Student Life.

“I have great respect for the university’s past efforts in diversity,” Peer said. “Student Life worked hard to ensure there were plenty of programs for minority students. It would be a mistake to think that past efforts were a failure. It’s just time to rethink the process.”

The placement of the CGMI into the academic arena will allow the university to more intentionally emphasize global and multicultural issues in the curriculum.

“This fall we’re beginning a process to identify courses we already offer that we believe contribute to a greater understanding of diversity issues and are courses we want to encourage students to take,” Peer said. “We also want to begin this fall an examination of several recommendations in the ‘Diversity in the Curriculum’ report for helping faculty think about their teaching techniques. How can they teach students in a way that contributes to a broader understanding of diversity? Take biology, for example. We teach the subject, but perhaps we can take some time during the course to examine the cultural diversity of the scholars who contributed to our current knowledge in the biological sciences; we perhaps too seldom do that sort of thing, leaving students unintentionally with a lack of appreciation for the diverse people who really contributed to that discipline.”

Additional changes will include the move of the International Programs into the Thompson Student Center as a physical reflection of its new closer association with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

“The mission is to bring an integrated focus on global and multicultural issues to the forefront of the way we approach diversity,” Peer said.

Peer hopes the reorganization will more effectively address what he calls one of our state’s, nation’s and world’s most prevailing challenges.

“If there were easy answers, diversity wouldn’t be such an important topic,” Peer said. “It’s a very complex issue, dividing families, workplaces and communities. Our entire culture has work to do until we can learn to value diversity, not fear it, and hopefully learn how to disagree without insulting one another.”

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