Since last July, Metro State has been making Diversity Initiative grants on a two-month rolling basis. This is the first year the college has offered phased, or rolling, deadlines for the grants; in the past the grants were made biannually.

By establishing phased deadlines, explains Karen Raforth, interim vice president for Student Services, the college hopes to generate additional grant applications. "We decided that doing them two months at a time gave people more opportunity. And that's proven to be the case; we have more applications than we have had in the past."

The Diversity Initiatives committee is also meeting with applicants to ask questions and clarify proposal details as a way to further open the process.

Diversity Initiative grants range from $100 to $4,000 and fund proposals for the cultural and academic enrichment of students, faculty or staff; to support recruitment, retention, or diversity outreach initiatives and to enhance students' cultural literacy.

The deadline for the final round of grants for the academic year—for May and June activities—is Feb. 14. The next phase of awards will be announced on March 1.

So far this fiscal year, Diversity Initiative grants have been awarded to the following:

• African American Affairs Council
• Campus Recreation at Auraria
• Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies
• Diversity Roundtable Discussion
• Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Services at Auraria
• Immigrant Services Program
• Institute for Women's Studies and Services
• Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Breakfast
• Metro State Center for Visual Art
• Metro Student Activities
• MSCD Latino Faculty and Staff Association
• MSCD Colorado Alliance for Minority Participation (CO-AMP)
• NASUA Powwow
• Su Teatro
• Training Peer Tutors for Diversity