DIVERSITY BLUEPRINTS REPORT

March 15, 2007

Dear Campus Community Members:

Today the Diversity Blueprints Task Force submitted its final report to the president. The task force, comprised of 55 individuals including faculty, staff, administrators, students and alumni, was appointed in December to identify innovative strategies to sustain and enhance diversity at the University of Michigan in the wake of Proposal 2.

We set an ambitious timeline for this task force because the work is so urgent. The diversity of our faculty, staff and students—and our ability to reap the benefits of that diversity-is vital to our future academic strength.

We want to thank the task force members for their extraordinary work, and all those members of the community who engaged with the task force by submitting ideas or speaking at the public forums. In just a few short weeks the task force members committed their time to five full task force meetings, four public forums, more than 35 hours of subcommittee meetings, a two-day workshop with key administrators from other states, a meeting with school superintendents, and review of the more than 400 ideas submitted by e-mail.

This final report, posted at http://www.vpcomm.umich.edu/diversityresources/db-summary.html, is a summary and synthesis designed to guide our immediate next steps. Detailed materials, including all the suggestions received and the complete reports of the subcommittees, will be archived at the Bentley Historical Library and will be made available to individuals and units responsible for planning and implementation.

Implementation of this report and its recommendations will be directed by the Provost and the other Executive Officers. We believe that every part of the University should be engaged in diversity. We anticipate that a wide range of groups and individuals will be involved in the implementation, including Student Affairs, Human Resources, the Health System, the deans, faculty leaders and SACUA, student organizations, staff organizations such as Voices of the Staff, the Alumni Association, and organizations such as the Diversity Council that represent a variety of constituencies. We plan to assess our progress at the Diversity Summit in Fall 2007.

This report lays out some very ambitious goals. We should not be satisfied just with maintaining numerical diversity, but instead should aim for real gains in fostering a campus environment that supports the success of all our faculty, staff and students. The recommendations of this task force will require sustained attention over a period of months and even years in order to realize our goals.

We have a lot of hard work ahead of us, and our leadership team will be fully engaged in this work. We look forward to your participation.

Sincerely,

President Mary Sue Coleman
Provost Teresa A. Sullivan, Co-Chair
Senior Vice Provost Lester P. Monts, Co-Chair