Intercultural Communication Institute

This workshop presents an integrated approach to developing and sustaining a diverse academic community, with a focus on the controversial diversity-related issues that inevitably arise.

Designed for
College and university faculty, deans, provosts, and other academic administrators; student affairs staff; and other campus leaders who have programmatic responsibilities related to planning for campus diversity.

Explore a unique diversity framework consisting of fourteen variables
Review approaches for assessing the diversity climate of a campus
Explore the vision and rationale for strategic planning for diversity
Analyze and address various forms of external and internal resistance to diversity programs and policies
Develop a coherent approach to addressing the political issues and conflicts that arise as a campus becomes more diverse
Learn from the Evergreen experience, where for fourteen years retention of underrepresented groups has been higher than for dominant group students

Learning Activities

Presentations of basic diversity issues and assumptions with discussion of their implications
Opportunities to translate concepts and ideas about diversity into concrete applications and approaches
Review and critique of specific diversity efforts in the curriculum and the co-curriculum
Consideration of specific diversity efforts with respect to recruitment and retention of students, faculty, and staff
Participatory activities addressing different dimensions of diversity dilemmas

Faculty: Art Costantino and W. Terrell Jones

Dr. Art Costantino is vice president for student affairs at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, where he has also been vice president for advancement and vice president for finance and administration. Art has initiated many programs designed to support the learning of diverse student populations at Evergreen, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Toledo. He has consulted with private companies, educational institutions, and state and local agencies on the topics of race relations, sexual harassment prevention, and the recruitment and retention of people of color. The model for promoting diversity on college campuses that he helped create for the American College Personnel Association has been widely disseminated to colleges and universities. In addition to other publications, Art is the co-author of “Planning Programs for Cultural Pluralism: A Primer,” in Cultural Pluralism on Campus, edited by Harold Cheatham.

Dr. W. Terrell Jones is the vice provost for educational equity at Pennsylvania State University, where he is also an affiliate faculty member of the African American Studies and Counselor Education departments. His office is responsible for the university’s five-year diversity plan and liaises with the Office of Civil Rights and government programs designed to increase the access and success of historically underrepresented populations. Terrell is an active trainer and speaker on diversity-related topics and programs for schools and colleges and public and private institutions. Among other publications on diversity topics, he is co-editor of How to Succeed on a Majority Campus: A Guide for Minority Students. Terrell is the incoming chair of the Pennsylvania Black Conference On Higher Education (PBCOHE) for 2008 to 2010.