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Student group project in Christy Woods  Ball State's duck pond It’s not easy being green, but Ball State’s decade of work to promote environmental sustainability on its own campus and across the country is bearing fruit. In a 2001 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, Ball State led a list of 22 green colleges and universities compiled by Noel Perrin of Dartmouth College. The elite group also included four Ivy League schools. Every other year, Ball State’s Greening of the Campus Conference brings together nearly 200 faculty, staff, and student representatives from colleges and universities around the United States and abroad for an interdisciplinary dialogue on campus environmental strategies. The diversity of participants and topics makes these gatherings unique. National leaders in environmental education, research, economics, and science help schools discover how to become environmentally sensitive models for society. Meanwhile, Ball State’s 94-member Green-2 Committee has developed 186 new action items to implement tenets of the international Talloires Declaration, an environmental agreement signed by Ball State and 250 other universities worldwide. Proposals range from a comprehensive campus bikeway system to a touring “trunk show” on sustainability issues. “Ball State is poised to continue its international leadership in the Greening of the Campus,” the committee reports. “The Green-2 recommendations provide the framework and steps for such action.”

Through academic research, curricula, and projects, the unique institute strives to help Ball State recruit and retain a more diverse body of students, faculty, and staff while preparing graduates for a more diverse society.

The vision includes weaving diversity issues into university courses, contributing to the national debate on diversity policy in higher education, and improving the campus climate for diverse groups. The new institute complements the student programs and support systems already offered by organizations at Ball State.

The initiative comes at a time when the university is attracting more students from diverse populations in larger cities and international enrollment has reached a new high. Both trends are changing the student body’s demographics and bringing more cultures and ideas to campus.

“My goal with this institute is to produce graduates who are much more competent in understanding and dealing with different people, who can communicate across cultural boundaries and be successful in a multicultural, global environment,” says Michael Stevenson, director of the Diversity Policy Institute and a professor of psychological science. “People shouldn’t be leaving institutions like this ignorant of these issues.”

Graduates who understand diversity issues will have the advantage in the job market and will be more attractive to employers, Stevenson says. With companies thinking globally, hiring may be based on the ability to work well with diverse groups.

A recent survey coordinated by the institute found that faculty members and students on campus agree that understanding diversity is important for success after graduation.

According to Stevenson, for graduates to be diversity competent, educators must infuse the curriculum with the relevant material and skill-development opportunities. To that end, the Diversity Policy Institute supports the development of diversity curricula in new and existing academic programs at Ball State.

The institute’s Diversity Associates program has been helping about 10 faculty members a year with diversity projects related to their courses, departments, or areas. History professor Tony Edmonds added a Vietnamese point of view to his Vietnam War course and an immigrant perspective to his course on the history of the family. A nursing professor’s new materials on African-Americans and cancer changed her department’s entire curriculum.

“The kinds of changes that have occurred in programs and curriculum have been phenomenal,” Stevenson says. “It’s a course-by-course thing, but it adds up over time.”

The Diversity Policy Institute also helps academic areas find ways to implement Ball State’s Strategic Plan goal encompassing diversity.

“I would like to see each department or college define more clearly what it means to be diversity competent in their area of expertise as we work toward a curriculum that would ensure that every graduate can claim to be diversity competent,” Stevenson says.

Adaptive computer lab on campus.

Off campus, the institute is connecting Ball State faculty members and students with community organizations dealing with diversity issues so they can support each other. Collaborations with other colleges, universities, corporations, and nonprofit agencies are in the works and could create sizable external funding opportunities.

Stevenson also wants Ball State to play a role in national discussions on diversity issues. Faculty members are presenting their diversity projects at national conferences, and Stevenson is involved in professional groups exploring diversity in education. He was recently elected to the board of the Diversity Roundtable of Central Indiana.

Ultimately, the Diversity Policy Institute might become a model for other colleges and universities across the country.

“I haven’t come across anyone who’s doing this,” Stevenson says. “Most campuses have some type of student affairs office and an equal employment office. It is very uncommon to have an office based on diversity research that intends to engage the entire campus.”

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