Promoting Diversity and Excellence in Higher Education through Department Change

A press conference will be held on Friday, August 16 at 2:30 p.m. in the Private Dining Room (PDR) 2 of the Chicago Hilton Hotel to release a report on Promoting Diversity and Excellence in Higher Education through Department Change, published by the American Sociological Association (ASA). The press conference is scheduled as part of the 2002 Annual Meeting of the ASA, which is taking place in Chicago, Illinois from August 16-19.

Promoting Diversity and Excellence in Higher Education through Department Change addresses how best to transform education to achieve excellence and inclusiveness. This volume reports on an eight-year effort supported by the Ford Foundation to alter "business as usual" practices through systemic changes in academic departments. The work focused on five areas--curriculum, research training, mentoring, outreach, and pipeline--and identifies strategies that work appropriate to different institutions and circumstances. This 100-page report shows that intentional efforts matter for students of color and for all students. The goal of this effort was to develop and test a model that is transportable to all fields and across colleges and universities throughout the nation.

Speakers include Felice J. Levine, Executive Director of the American Educational Research Association and immediate-past ASA Executive Officer. She is senior author of the report and principal investigator of this initiative.

Also on the panel are Jose Zapata Calderon and Beth E. Schneider, both of whom played leadership roles in two of the 11 sociology departments. Calderon is Associate Professor of Sociology and Chicano Studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, California. Schneider is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of California-Santa Barbara.