Chancellor Dynes’ 10-Point Diversity Action Plan

Chancellor Dynes created a Commission on Diversity in 1997 to engage in wide-ranging discussions focused on improving UCSD’s diversity efforts. The Commission reported its recommendations to the Chancellor in February of 1998. Subsequently, the Chancellor broadly sought campus comment on the report. The Chancellor and Vice Chancellors also intensely considered the report’s recommendations and their implementation and developed additional strategies to increase and nurture diversity.Based upon this comprehensive approach, Chancellor Dynes has created, and is immediately implementing, the following 10-Point Action Plan.

1. To underscore his and the campus’ commitment to diversity, and to insure that diversity efforts are pursued as a major institutional priority, the Chancellor wholeheartedly accepts the Commission’s recommendation to designate himself as the Chief Diversity Officer of UCSD.
   
   
2. To strengthen the impact and cohesiveness of UCSD’s diversity efforts, the Chancellor is establishing a UCSD Diversity Council, comprised of faculty, staff and students. This will not be an administration Council; the members will represent the full UCSD community. The Council will replace the Chancellor’s Affirmative Action Advisory Committee and the Diversity Education Leadership Team. Building on the achievements of those committees, the Council will oversee a broad agenda of proactive diversity activities. These include further assessing the effectiveness of UCSD’s diversity efforts and programs, bringing diversity issues and opportunities to the Chancellor’s attention, and recommending policy changes that will positively impact diversity at UCSD.
   
   
3. To increase student diversity, the campus is setting a goal of tripling UCSD’s current scholarship base to annually awarding $1million in undergraduate scholarships, by the year 2002. In addition, the Dean of Graduate Studies and the Vice Chancellor, Development and University Relations will seek increased private funding for graduate fellowships.
   
   
4. To increase the diversity of the undergraduate student body, the campus has established a goal of annually increasing UCSD’s new underrepresented student population by 10%. The Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, and his staff, have pledged their commitment to achieving this goal. Further, the Vice Chancellor, Development and University Relations pledges to assist academic departments and programs in obtaining external support for joint student/faculty outreach efforts to attract new students, and for academic enrichment programs for current students.
   
   
5. As a further step toward increasing undergraduate diversity, high achievers from all high schools in San Diego and Imperial counties should be identified and recruited to UCSD. Toward this goal, the Chancellor and the Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs are committed to working with the Admissions Committee on a plan to offer admission to the top 4% of UC-eligible graduates from each high school in these two counties. In addition, the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs initiated this year the Community Scholarship Program, in which the campus partners with high school principals to award scholarships to UCSD-eligible students who demonstrate a commitment to their community.
   
   
6. Setting increased faculty diversity as an institutional priority, the Chancellor pledges resources to efforts that produce results. Toward this goal, the Senior Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs will benchmark and recommend to the Chancellor the nation’s "best practices" in faculty recruitment and retention. Also toward this end, a Distinguished Visitors Program and the "Profiles in Diversity" project recommended by the Commission will be implemented.
   
   
7. To address staff diversity issues, the Vice Chancellor, Business Affairs will institute, this year, performance requirements for administrators’, managers’, and other employees’ adherence to the UCSD Principles of Community and support for diversity. Campus-wide funding for training and professional development will be increased, and greater staff access to training will be promoted. Further, a number of staff recruitment and retention efforts, and other initiatives aimed at increasing staff diversity, will be pursued on an ambitious timetable.
   
   
8. Initiatives that improve the campus climate will be nurtured. The Cross-Cultural Center and the Women’s Center are examples of programs that have accomplished this goal. As the Commission recommends, resources for these Centers will be increased. Space for UCSD’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans- gender communities will be one of the first issues the Diversity Council considers.
   
   
9. To insure that they receive the broadest input possible, the Diversity Council will talk with campus constituencies regarding the development and implementation of diversity initiatives. On the Chancellor’s behalf and through a variety of methods -- including a twice-yearly Diversity Forum -- the Council will facilitate an exchange of views on diversity issues, challenges, and strategies. The Council will bring these matters to the Chancellor for review and action.
   
   
10. The Chancellor will implement the CREATE program, a UCSD-designed, comprehensive initiative to increase the number of underrepresented students who achieve UC-eligibility, enroll at UCSD and other UC caliber universities, and fulfill their potential as college students and graduates. This broad K-12 outreach effort includes the creation of a Model School, partnerships with school clusters, teacher development, outreach and recruitment, research, and an assessment of K-12 educational practices.

Each Vice Chancellor also has created detailed responses to specific recommendations in the Diversity Commission’s report. That comprehensive response is titled the Chancellor’s Diversity Plan and will be available at: http://diversity.ucsd.edu/, and at all UCSD libraries.