Metro State is commonly recognized for enrolling the highest number of students of color among four-year colleges in the state's 28 percent of its more-than-24,000-student population as of fall 2010 enrollment. Additionally, 23 percent of full-time faculty members are people of color, an increase over 2009 when The Chronicle of Higher Education ranked Metro State first in the state for the ethnic diversity of its faculty, with 20 percent being of color.

While these demographics are good, according to Interim Associate to the President for Institutional Diversity Myron Anderson, "we are not resting on our laurels. We are working to be the best in the country when it comes to cultural competence."

Often confused with diversity, cultural competence is more than documenting race and ethnicity, he says. It's about having a greater understanding and knowledge of different cultures, promoting the ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures and perspectives.

To accomplish this, the Office of Institutional Diversity focuses on its six hallmark elements: campus climate, recruitment and retention, diversity development, diversity initiatives, equity scorecard and civic engagement, while working in conjunction with the divisions of Institutional Advancement, Academic Affairs, Student Services and Administration and Finance. The office also features two standing college-wide committees: grants and stewardship.

Campus Climate Survey
Another monumental initiative of the office was the development, implementation and assessment of the Campus Climate Survey, designed to provide a comprehensive overview of the College's faculty/employee's workplace experience. The results of the Campus Climate Survey didn't go unnoticed.

"At Metro State the results didn't get a chance to sit on a shelf," says Anderson.

President Stephen Jordan has already established four action items to ignite this process. He has asked:

• President's Cabinet to come up with three ideas to improve campus communication as it relates to their respective areas.
• Fifteen leadership areas to convene their constituents to further communicate the survey results to them and begin to use this data as an information resource to advance their areas.
• Vice presidents to review the survey results in detail and identify both micro and macro opportunities that resonate in their areas to develop strategies for improvement. Already implemented is an Institutional Advancement newsletter and "Lunches with the Provost" to enrich the faculty's relationship with the provost.
• He has charged the 2010 Strategic Planning Committee to use results from the survey to determine important initiatives and strategies for improving the work environment at the College.

The student component of the survey will be implemented in spring 2011. "We want to see if there is a correlation between student survey and employee survey results," he says.

Faculty Recruitment and Retention
The office is piloting, in cooperation with the School of Professional Studies, a school-wide recruitment and retention committee, with a more comprehensive strategy to recruit and maintain excellent and diverse faculty. Formed two years ago, the committee is gaining more traction this year, particularly with the attention of Assistant Director of Institutional Diversity Frederick Davis. If strategies developed prove to be successful, the initiative could serve as a model for other schools at the College.

Diversity Development
To further realize the vision of the Office of Institutional Diversity serving as more of a resource to students and the external community, the office is preparing to launch a website redesign by end of semester and is working to use the Skillsoft platform to make cultural competence information available to the campus community.

Diversity Initiative Grants
Through the diversity initiative grants, Anderson says the College has "over the last four years helped to fund 168 programs with more than $400,000 in grants, which when leveraged with in-kind and community support, results in support of roughly $1 million in programmatic activity to promote cultural competence."

Through the grants, campus organizations can apply for seed funding to help implement qualifying activities. Funded projects include: Cesar Chavez Breakfast, Outstanding Women Awards, Black World Conference, the Ethiopia Altruism Project, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Breakfast, and Chicana/o Studies' Journey Through our Heritage program.

Civic engagement is often integrated into the grants as community leaders are honored during many of the activities.

Equity Scorecard
Stay tuned to @Metro for updates on the Equity Scorecard Project, which examines access, retention, excellence and campus climate as it relates to diversity.

Diversity Symposium
Anderson says input from both the stewardship and grant committees were instrumental in the College's January 2010 Diversity Symposium held during the Center for Faculty Development Spring Forum. Featured speakers included diversity leaders from other higher education institutions in the state and Colorado Speaker of the House Terrance Carroll.

Moving Forward
Building on a state-wide Inclusive Excellence roundtable hosted by Metro State last year, the office also aims to host an annual, tri-institutional event surrounding inclusive excellence that would include chief diversity officers and equal opportunity officers from around the state.

The long-term goal of the office, says Anderson, is to educate, implement and promote inclusive excellence throughout the Metro State community.