Todd unveils initiatives for diversity

President Lee T. Todd Jr. has announced several initiatives designed to help boost diversity on campus, including more scholarship money and a significant increase in staff for recruitment and admissions.

“At UK, we have to be committed — and we are committed – to ensuring a diverse campus. Our students gain tremendously by being part of a racially and ethnically diverse environment,” Todd said. “Simply put, a diverse campus is essential to being a top public university.”

The new initiatives come on the heels of a 40 percent drop this academic year in the number of first-year African-American students. In the previous two years, UK had increases of 30 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

Todd said the university must move more aggressively to recruit African-American students that UK is losing to benchmark schools and other prestigious universities.

Programs announced by Todd include:

—Creating the Diversity Enrollment Team that will unify the separate recruiting functions in multicultural affairs and enrollment management offices

—Adding five new positions in the recruitment area and increasing the operating budget to address diversity issues

—Reallocating $500,000 in funding for diversity-linked scholarships

—Conducting a review of the scholarship management process to ensure maximum impact of available scholarship dollars

—Implementation of a new, holistic application review process. This increases consideration of factors beyond ACT and GPA such as leadership, special talents and contributions to community diversity

—Adding three new admissions officers to implement the holistic review process

—Working with Faculty Senate on approval of revised admissions process and criteria

—Appointing a new chair of the President’s Commission on Diversity and continuing the work of the Diversity Task Force

—Forming the Committee on Research and Analysis on the Success of African American Students at UK

—Conducting listening sessions with faculty, staff, students, and the community

— Enhancing the Multicultural Affairs Web site

“Diversity makes us better people because it enhances our sense of a shared community, a shared world and a set of shared values,” Todd said. “After all, the students we educate today carry our hopes for the world tomorrow. I look forward to working with all of you as we tackle these serious issues.”

— Jay Blanton