Every day Charles Batey, Metro State's new associate director for Equal Opportunity, boards an RTD bus, transfers at the Light Rail station and disembarks near campus. Having lived in Los Angeles, where public transportation is weak, he is delighted to be back in his hometown where he can advocate—through action—for sustainable commuting.

"There are too many people driving," he explains, "and people need to become more conscious about the environment. If we have a choice, we should choose public transportation."

As the college's equal employment opportunity officer, Batey will update and enhance Metro's affirmative action plan and ensure the college complies with EEO programs and guidelines when it recruits and screens prospective hires. He is also exploring new technologies that will automate that search and screening process.

Overall, he says, Metro is "in great shape as far as affirmative action compliance is concerned. The college has an affirmative action plan. It has the appropriate policies and procedures. And they are well publicized and disseminated." But like colleges and universities nationwide, Metro needs to further augment minority faculty recruitment.

Because businesses and corporations—organizations with deep pockets and the ability to offer research opportunities and time off for teaching—are also cultivating many minority academic stars, institutions of higher education find it difficult to compete. "There is limited national availability of minority individuals with terminal degrees who are trained to function as academics," Batey explains. "Colleges all over the country are seeking to identify and place minority academics in tenure-track positions. But unfortunately, our educational community nationwide is not providing terminal-degree minority candidates in the numbers we want on our campuses. It's a national challenge; it's not just Metro."

Metro has, and indeed all Denver campuses have, a unique advantage in Batey's eyes—that is, "Denver is not a hard sell," he says. "The quality of life is tough to beat. That's one advantage we have to enhance our employment outreach."

Batey holds a bachelor's from the University of Colorado, a master's in secondary school administration from Drake University and an education specialist degree in higher education administration from the University of Toledo. He has worked in a variety of settings, including the Adolph Coors Co., the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the County of Santa Barbara, Aurora Public Schools, the Denver Public Library, UCLA and SUNY-Geneseo.

A graduate of East High School and lifelong jazz fan, Denver was no hard sell for Batey either. "Denver is one of very few cities that has a 24-hour, straight-ahead jazz station," he says, plus there was the added attraction of Auraria's vibrant, urban campus that is easily accessible by bus. "I've had the opportunity to work for many different types of organizations. But for me, I can't think of any organization that's more exciting than working at a college or university."