USU President Noelle Cockett announced plans for a diversity task force to address inclusion
USU President Noelle Cockett announced plans in March for a new task force designed to address diversity and inclusion on a university-wide level.
The task force will be comprised of faculty and staff members and co-chaired by Amanda DeRito, director in public relations, and Eri Bentley, CAPS psychologist and chair of Aggies Think Care Act. The co-chairs will facilitate working groups focusing on student recruitment, staff recruitment, training, and diversity committees and organizations, DeRito said. She said the group plans to meet in the fall.
According to a university press release, members of the task force include:
- Alison Adams-Perlac, Direct of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity
- Eri Bentley, CAPS Psychologist and Chair of Aggies Think, Care, Act
- Janis Boettinger, Vice Provost and Global Engagement Director
- Michelle Bogdan-Holt, Director of the Access and Diversity Center
- Doug Bullock, Director of USU Human Resources
- Cameron Cuch, Director of Students USU Uintah Basin Campus
- Amanda DeRito, Director of Crisis Communications and Issues Management
- Renee Galliher, Professor of Psychology
- Christy Glass, Professor of Sociology and Undergraduate Program Co-Director
- Chris González, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Latinx Cultural Center
- Ravi Gupta, Professor, Charles Redd Chair of Religious Studies
- Grecia Jimenez, Recruitment Specialist for Admissions
- James Morales, Vice President for Student Affairs
- Sachin Pavithran, Policy Director for the Center for Persons with Disabilities
- Bill Plate, Vice President for Marketing and Communications
- David Pruden, Director of the Disability Resource Center
- Robert Wagner, Vice President for Academic and Instructional Services
The task force’s first goal is to assess where the university is at so they can devise a 5-year strategic plan, DeRito said. The force will then produce progress reports each year to assess if its goals are being reached and if the plan is effective.
DeRito pointed to the Washington Monthly’s 2018 college guide and rankings, where Utah State placed 12th in the country based on “contribution to the public good.” DeRito said that while USU has done well in research, service and enabling social mobility for students, “underlying all of these is making sure we’re respecting diverse groups and preparing students to work in an increasingly diverse workforce.”
DeRito said defining diversity can be tricky and that USU doesn’t want to leave anyone out of the conversation. The task force’s target areas include race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, religion and spirituality, national and geographic origin, language use, socio-economic status, veteran status, political ideology, familial and marital status, and pregnancy status.
President Cockett also sees this as an opportunity for the university to begin to bring a new theme to general education courses.
“We’re one of the few institutions in the state that doesn’t have a theme to our general education,” Cockett said, explaining a theme as an area that either one required class must focus on or all classes must incorporate into learning objectives. Cockett said the University of Utah places a focus on global learning, while Weber places focus on sustainability.
Cockett said part of the inspiration for the task force came from an analogy that arose in a conversation she had with Dave Francis, director of 4-H/Youth and extension professor.
She said diversity in the US used to be describe as a melting pot, but that we really ought to view diversity as more of a salad bowl, where all cultures and traditions can be brought in together while still retaining their own individual traits.
“We don’t want everyone to be alike or lose their uniqueness,” Cockett said. “That’s what I want USU to be – a place where people can be proud of what makes them different and have the opportunity to share it.”
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