The Fay Jones School of Architecture's diversity plan has garnered national attention, drawing the notice of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and the American Institute of Architects. This summary identifies efforts and initiatives undertaken in the spirit of the plan in support of the school's goals for building diversity.

Principally through its advising center, together with directed outreach efforts by faculty, the school cultivates relationships with high school counselors who work in schools with a high percentage of minority students. An ongoing relationship with Springdale High School Engineering and Architecture Academy has resulted in an increase of Hispanic students enrolled in the professional program in architecture. Women and African American alumni have contributed to recruiting events in Dallas and Memphis.

For the past two years, the school has offered a summer workshop, cosponsored by the Springdale High School Engineering and Architecture Academy, to introduce young women to the field of architecture as well as to raise awareness of the profession among women and minorities while also striving to eliminate some of the misconceptions that have served as barriers to attaining more diversity in the profession. Currently, members of the faculty are exploring ways to broaden this model, including efforts to identify funding to support off-campus workshops in Little Rock and in the Delta region of the state.

In addition to current connections to high schools, the school seeks to establish relationships with potential students at all levels of K-12, particularly elementary and middle school students, to introduce them to design, architecture and landscape architecture during the formative years of their education. In particular, plans are being formulated for a design-build project for the KIPP charter school in Helena that will involve a dedicated student recruitment component.

The school is developing publications targeted to diversity. Sample curriculum and degree requirements have been translated into Spanish, facilitating the ease with which prospective Hispanic students can share pertinent information about the School of Architecture and its programs with their parents and family.

Diversity in academe and in the profession is a unit in the Leadership by Design course, a foundation-level course required of all architecture and landscape architecture students in both the 5-year professional curriculums and the 4-year architectural and landscape architectural studies curriculum. Offered first as an upper-level elective, and currently reconceived for the university core curriculum, the school has developed ARCH 1013, Diversity by Design, to encourage awareness and to promote a culture of inclusive design.

Service learning and related outreach projects in the professional curriculum have immersed students in service endeavors involving traditionally diverse and disenfranchised communities. Efforts have included outreach to post-Katrina New Orleans and to central Little Rock.

It is of critical importance to provide role models of success among underrepresented groups in the professions for students. School of Architecture faculty engage their professional networks and maintain an active presence at professional and scholarly conferences and affinity groups to identify appropriate candidates for continuing faculty appointments as well as visiting positions.

Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences encourages enrollment of students from all backgrounds in the 13 majors offered by the college. Each of the college's nine academic departments and the School of Human Environmental Sciences provides a family-like atmosphere that embraces students from underrepresented populations. Minority representation in the college has historically been low, but the current culture of the college is to seek increased involvement at all levels from persons of varied ethnic backgrounds. The commitment is based on an understanding of the tremendous benefits to all concerned of a diverse college community.

The commitment to diversity is reflected by participation by faculty and staff in the "Our Campus" diversity training; a requirement for pre-teachers to complete a course in teaching diverse populations; a diversity unit in First Year Experience courses; and guest speakers in many courses that provide the perspective of persons from diverse backgrounds. The college encourages applicants with underrepresented backgrounds to apply for faculty and staff positions.

The college's Global Studies Program includes a minor in global studies in agricultural, food and life sciences, and opportunities to study abroad, which promote understanding of the benefits of cultural diversity. The college also hosts faculty and students from other countries with a wide range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Recruiting videos for each major on the college website include a Spanish version of the video text.

The college sponsors George Washington Carver student research internships for minority students and provides support for five minority students through a USDA-sponsored grant that provides a $5,000 scholarship per year per student.

Two African American faculty members who are alumni of the college, brothers Daniel and Ronald Rainey, contribute to the culture of diversity by their leadership. Ronald Rainey, an extension economist, is immediate past president of the college's alumni society. Daniel Rainey, an associate professor in agricultural economics and agribusiness, is faculty sponsor of the Arkansas chapter of MANRRS (Minorities in Agricultural, Natural Resources and Related Sciences).

Bumpers College and MANRRS collaborated with the university's MLK Planning Committee to cosponsor a seminar by The Honorable Lavenski R. Smith, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals, as a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in 2010. MANRRS provides access for members to academic and networking support and activities at the local, state and national levels. Members also conduct outreach activities to encourage prospective students to consider majors in agriculture, natural resources and related sciences.

Demonstrating to potential college students from underrepresented groups what a nurse does, giving teachers the tools to help their students whose first language is not English, and mentoring prospective graduate students from historically black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions are a few of the efforts undertaken by the College of Education and Health Professions to improve diversity at the University of Arkansas.

The college offers a broad range of academic programs whose graduates improve quality of life in fields from teaching to nursing and athletic training to school counseling. Faculty and staff in many of these programs have designed initiatives or participate in established programs that focus on increasing diversity among our student population and serving diverse populations in Arkansas and beyond.

Some of the college's efforts:

• Eleanor Mann School of Nursing faculty for several years have taught rising eighth-graders taking part in the Kauffman Scholars summer program designed to help low-income urban students in Kansas City prepare for college. Faculty have demonstrated for these students from underrepresented groups how to measure a patient's vital signs and described for them all of the career opportunities open to a graduate of the nursing school.
• Faculty in the department of curriculum and instruction provide school-based English as a second language instruction to Springdale teachers of a wide range of content areas. Through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the college's Teach Them All program is improving these teachers' ability to help students from diverse backgrounds be successful in school so that they have the opportunity to attend college.
• Faculty in the higher education leadership and workforce development programs have mentored prospective graduate students from historically black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions taking part in summer research through the George Washington Carver Research Program.
• The college's human resource development bachelor's degree program has reached many students from underrepresented groups since it was established in 1997. By offering first a blend of courses delivered through compressed interactive video and the Internet and now an all Web-based curriculum, the program allows working adults in areas such as Helena-West Helena, Forrest City and Blytheville to earn a bachelor's degree from the university without leaving their families and jobs.
• The athletic training education faculty have helped prospective students from underrepresented groups apply for and receive the Benjamin Franklin Lever Tuition Fellowship, allowing them to enter the athletic training master's program in the college.
• A professor of childhood education was part of a team that secured funding to offer a home-based literacy program for Marshallese mothers and their children in Springdale. In the second year of the program, the faculty member was able to establish a library in the Marshallese church that hosted the literacy program.

The National Science Foundation predicts the demand for new science and engineering professionals to increase by 51 percent in the next decade. If the talent pool does not diversify, these technically dependent professions will be unable to meet the need for engineering talent, and American industry will find itself unequipped to thrive in the changing global society. It is imperative that engineering colleges respond to the significant demographic shifts in the national workforce and tailor their recruitment and retention efforts to reach diverse populations which previously have been overlooked and underrepresented in the engineering professions.

In response to the urgent calls by the NSF and U.S. industry for action to address these issues, the University of Arkansas College of Engineering has committed itself to increasing both the number and diversity of students entering and graduating from engineering disciplines. In the fall of 2007, the College of Engineering implemented the Engineering Career Awareness Program (ECAP) as a recruitment-to-graduation diversity initiative designed to increase the number of underrepresented students entering and graduating from engineering disciplines by removing traditional barriers to success.

ECAP combines several piloted and proven recruitment and retention strategies into one cohesive program to recruit, retain and graduate underrepresented students. The recruitment strategies of the college begin with community-focused outreach to students and their families to make them aware of the professional and personal opportunities available through an engineering education. Once a student chooses to join the ECAP program, he or she benefits from a retention plan that includes a summer bridge program, supplemental scholarships and targeted co-op/internship opportunities.

Since 2006, before ECAP was implemented, there has been a 67 percent increase in new freshmen minority students and a 31 percent increase in the minority population of the undergraduate student body in the College of Engineering. In a single year, the African American population in the freshman class increased by 165 percent and the female population increased by 70 percent in the same year. In the fall of 2009, the college welcomed its largest minority population in history.

The college and the university as a whole must continue to build programs that equip previously overlooked students with the tools to complete an engineering education. In doing so, the college will be better prepared to meet market demands, and the state will be better equipped to adapt to a more knowledge-based economy and ready to compete in a global context. Through participation in ECAP, access to an engineering education has become feasible for populations not previously reached by outdated recruitment and retention strategies. With continued persistence, the university can help change the demographic makeup of the College of Engineering and the economic outlook of Arkansas.

Fulbright College has a long-standing commitment to increasing diversity through recruiting efforts, new and enhanced programs, curriculum and strategic partnerships. In recruiting, minority candidates are sought out and strongly encouraged to apply. For fall 2010, the college has filled 21 tenure-track positions; of these, nearly 50 percent are women, and one third are individuals of minority or international status. Faculty and staff also strive to recruit minority students. For example, the Middle East and Islamic Studies program attracts Middle Eastern students to campus. The college is also home to African American, Asian, European, Latin American and Russian area studies programs. The Delta Literacy Project appeals to minority students and is used to cultivate and recruit deserving students in the Arkansas Delta.

Partnerships and course offerings are also key to enhancing diversity. The composition program, Hispanic Heritage Month activities, and the "One Book, One Community Project" came together in 2009 by requiring The Devil's Highway as a text in ENGL 1013; students were required to write an extensive essay and ttend a lecture given by the author, whose work examines a strip of deadly desert along the U.S.-Mexico border. The art department has added Art History 1013, focused on global artwork; drama offers courses in African American drama and theater history; and in history, professors Calvin White and Andrea Arrington led a group of students for the first study abroad trip to Ghana during the summer of 2010.

In September 2009, the department of geosciences hosted the National Association of Black Geologists and Geophysicists. On May 6, 2010, the college signed a formal agreement with Fort Valley State University in Georgia, an historically black institution, for a transfer agreement that will allow Fort Valley students to earn degrees in the geosciences and engineering at the University of Arkansas.

Three faculty members are part of a National Science Foundation project aimed at recruiting Native American students.

The Lemke Journalism Project brings Hispanic high school students in northwest Arkansas to campus for workshops in which they learn reporting techniques, the use of journalism and the media to address their issues, and how to produce and publish a tabloid newspaper.

In 2009, Fulbright College established the Nudie E. Williams Award for diversity to recognize colleagues who are committed to developing a campus climate that supports ethnic and racial diversity. The college has also written a diversity initiative for 2007-2010 whose goals include enhancing community members' feelings of belonging to the campus, building an affirming learning culture for all members of the university community, creating a more diverse community, and ensuring that the varied perspectives of such a diverse community and of our larger society are reflected in the college curriculum. A demographic analysis revealed that college faculty are more diverse than the general faculty at the university and are in fact comparable to the faculty demographics at other institutions in the SEC and Big 12 academic conferences.

Taking part in the University of Arkansas' efforts toward promoting diversity within the student body and the institution as a whole is important to the Razorback Athletic Department. To foster greater participation in diversity, director of athletics Jeff Long appointed Deedee Brown-Campell as the Razorback athletic department's diversity coordinator and made the diversity position a part of the department's senior staff.

As diversity coordinator, Brown-Campbell served as the representative for Razorback athletics on several campus-wide programs, including the Chancellor's Council on Diversity and as co-chair of the university's annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Day events. She also assisted the university's vice provost for diversity with student recruiting trips in southeast and central Arkansas.

The Razorback athletic department received a grade of "A" on the Black Coaches and Administrator's Association's most recent report card in 2008-09, and took part in the national drive by the BCA for its Legacy Fund Campaign. More than 30 coaches and staff members took part in NCAA-sponsored diversity education during the spring,

Once again, Razorback athletics took an active role in promotion of Black History Month through its website, producing a feature story each day on a member of the athletic or academic community that were recognized as Trailblazers of UA. Among the notable honorees were the previous members of the Silas Hunt Legacy Award program.

Brown-Campbell was joined by Monica Jones on the university's Campus Climate Committee. A part of the Office of Diversity, one universitywide group focuses on strategies to recruit and retain more underrepresented students while the second concentrates on issues related to underrepresented faculty and staff.

Among the other events Razorback athletics served as a participant or sponsor during 2009-10 were the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame banquet, the 14th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Recommitment banquet and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority's celebrity waiter event. The Razorback women's basketball team celebrated Latino Day with special outreach and halftime programs. The athletic department also hosted National Women and Girls in Sport Day.

The School of Law has aggressively recruited and supported a diverse student body — efforts led by associate dean of students Jim Miller — with considerable success in recent years. The school was most recently listed in the 2008 edition of U.S. News and World Report as one of "the most diverse schools." Miller was in 2005 given the American Bar Association Law Student Division's Henry J. Ramsey Award for Diversity in recognition of his efforts in promoting diversity and to increasing participation of women, minorities and disabled individuals in the legal profession.

The Law School provides substantial financial assistance to attract minority students. For the first-year class that began studies in fall 2009, the school provided $146,000 in scholarships to non-resident minority students and $48,000 in scholarships to resident minority students.

Minority students comprise more than 17 percent of the school's current student body. Approximately 18 percent of the first-year students who will begin studies in fall 2010 are expected to be minority students. Four (Asian Pacific American Law Student Association, Black Law Student Association, Hispanic Student Bar Association and Women's Law Student Association) of our 22 registered student organizations play special roles in supporting a diverse student population.

The Law School dean, Cynthia Nance, is an African American woman, a first both in race and gender among the university's law school deans, and one of the very few African American women serving as law school dean in the United States. Her status as dean serves as a powerful illustration of the law school's commitment to diversity, and has great influence on the school's ability to recruit and retain minority students, staff and faculty.

During the 2009-10 current academic year, the law school recruited candidates to fill two tenure-track faculty positions, and made special efforts to consider minority candidates, including listing our positions with the National Minority Identification Program.

The law school has established an Immigration Law Clinic to broaden the legal services offered to the community by our Legal Clinics.

Dean Nance has made special outreach efforts to be more inclusive in the organizations in which she participates and/or to which she has appeared as a speaker. During this past year, her activities have included:

• Keynote Speaker (February 1, 2010) at Black History Month Kickoff event (at UA)
• Guest Speaker (February 20, 2010) for Lemke Journalism Project on Justice Sonia Sotomayor
  (Fayetteville High School)
• Served (March 3, 2010) on Regional Strategic Planning Focus Group designed specifically to solicit feedback from cross-cultural leaders in our region (Springdale)
• Keynote Speaker (May 8, 2010) at The W. Harold Flowers Law Society's, "A Night of Firsts: A Legacy of Excellence," a Judge Andree Layton Roaf Scholarship Benefit (Little Rock)

The Division of Student Affairs is committed to diversity through fostering the development of an inclusive campus community. The Student Affairs Diversity Committee, chaired by the vice provost for student affairs, meets each month to discuss important issues surrounding diversity and to help implement best practices for the division. This committee created the annual Student Affairs Diversity Awards three years ago to highlight and recognize programs, departments and individuals who not only embrace diversity in all forms but who express diversity in their lives inside and outside the university community.

Student affairs departments and programs are models for the rest of the university community in inclusiveness:

• The Center for Educational Access educates faculty and staff about designing courses, programs and events so that students with disabilities may participate fully. They also help students to secure any accommodations they might need due to physical, learning or psychiatric disability.
• The Veterans Resource & Information Center helps student veterans adjust to university life and acclimate to the higher education environment.
• The Distinguished Lecturers Committee has brought diverse speakers on a variety of topics.
• The Headliner Concerts Committee brings diverse artists to entertain our diverse student body.
• Student Activities holds a variety of cultural Friday Night Live events throughout the year including Latin Soul and Soul Night.
• The International Culture Team from International Students and Scholars provides training in the cultures of other nations. They present to campus groups, community groups and local schools.
• The Center for Leadership & Community Engagement hosts many cultural Registered Student Organizations (e.g., Latinos Unidos, PRIDE, Black Student Association) and culturally related Professional Registered Student Organizations (e.g., Black Engineers).
• Pre-College Outreach Programs and Residential Pre-College Programs help prepare middle and high school students for college. Students served are either low-income or would be first generation college students — or both. They also provide workshops for the university's human resource department on Socioeconomic Diversity which counts toward completion of the University of Arkansas Human Resources Diversity Certificate.
• Greek Life counsels the fraternities and sororities to value and appreciate diversity through retreats with the predominantly white and historically black or Latino groups. In collaboration with International Students & Scholars, Greek Life members can participate in Global Greeks.
• Off Campus Connections helps first year students who live off campus with families and upper class students who commute and/or who are not traditional undergraduates.

The Sam M. Walton College of Business believes it is the educational value of diversity that is most important to it as a learning, service and outreach organization. It is crucial that students are prepared to be productive members of the global society in which they will live and work.

The Walton College established the office of diversity programs in 1994 as an advocate for diversity throughout the college — with programs that reach students in high school and college as well as working professionals and the community.

For instance, the office collaborates each summer with Information Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to hold the Technology Awareness Program. The week-long residential program is designed to expose underrepresented groups, specifically women and racial minorities in high school, to careers in information technology and accounting as well as to college life. In addition, two graduates of this program that plan to attend the University of Arkansas receive scholarships. The ITRI also offers IT Day for high school students and a night program for parents and educators as well as the Women IT conference — all to promote the benefits of careers in IT to underrepresented populations. In collaboration with the college and the Center for Retailing Excellence, the Business Leadership Academy is held for 30 underrepresented students who will be freshmen in the fall of 2010. The 13-day summer residential program is designed to create an awareness of careers in the retail industry. The Office of Diversity partners with this center to create college scholarships for underrepresented students.

Several areas within the Walton College coordinate a variety of activities to promote diversity, such as attending high school recruiting fairs throughout the state and surrounding states. Each year, the office provides a workshop for the Freshman Business Connections class to introduce students to the importance of diversity. In addition, the office provides funding to minority finance students to make class trips. It awarded 10 Wal-Mart Scholarships to women and minority students in 2010. During the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration week, the office invites minority alumni to speak to students about their experiences. The office helped set up a new course titled "Foundations of Diversity in the Workplace" for business students. The college is participating in a University of Arkansas task force to develop strategies for higher retention and graduation rates among all populations of students.

The Walton College collaborates with the University of Arkansas Graduate School to host the George Washington Carver project on campus to recruit minorities for graduate degrees, as well as in Chicago with the Ph.D. Project to recruit students to doctoral programs. The college also seeks to recruit new minority tenure-track faculty.

In 2009, the Walton College established the Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace which presents speakers and seminars to students, faculty, businesses and community about diversity of beliefs and how it impacts business.