MU hosts first-ever diversity summit

More than 200 people have registered for the conference.

By Michelle Hagopian

Published April 22, 2008

MU is playing host to its first-ever MizzouDiversity Summit, which organizers say is reaching its enrollment capacity.

“This is something that is unprecedented, and all are invited to attend,” Interim Chief Diversity Officer Roger Worthington said.

The first day of the conference begins with a luncheon and a keynote speech from Damon Williams, assistant vice provost for multicultural and international affairs at the University of Connecticut.

The rest of the day includes discussion sessions for students, faculty and staff followed by various diversity speeches and a town hall meeting, Worthington said.

He said the town hall meeting, which will be held in the Life Sciences Center’s Monsanto Auditorium, is an open discussion for anyone who wishes to participate.

The second day of the conference is primarily for administrators, though all are invited to attend the keynote luncheon and dinner.

Following the keynote address, a series of interdivisional sessions will take place, he said.

“Both academic and nonacademic divisions will send administration teams to attend the summit on Monday, and a variety of topics will be discussed in their dialogue sessions,” Worthington said.

He said the summit affects MU in many ways.

“The summit is something that can be defined by analyzing the goals you’ve achieved and trying to identify what your successes have been and where you can improve for the future,” he said.

The goal of the summit is to raise awareness of diversity on the MU campus, Worthington said.

“We’ve never had a diversity summit that includes all these people on campus before,” he said.

He said students and faculty alike would have the opportunity to have their voices heard in diversity issues on campus.

Worthington said faculty members are encouraged to offer extra credit to students who attend the summit.

“I told some of my colleagues to announce that attendance will include free meals for students and that extra credit is always an option,” he said.

He said it’s common for teachers to award extra credit to students for attending specific types of programs on campus.

Currently, more than 200 people have registered for the conference, and registration will remain open until all available seats are taken, Worthington said.

“We’ll keep registration open until capacity is filled or our deadline of April 25 comes first,” he said.

Noor Azizan-Gardner, Chancellor’s Diversity Initiative Diversity Programming and Professional Development Director, said the original summit capacity was set for 100 people.

“We intended to make 100 people the maximum but so many people registered and we decided to leave it open to see how many would show up,” she said.

She said the registration deadline is also kept for people to replace those who don’t show up.

“Sometimes people don’t show up even though they registered,” she said. “We decided to keep it open for others to sign up in those absences.”

She said the summit is an opportunity for anyone passionate and interested in diversity to meet with others and communicate ideas to better the MU campus.

“One of the goals of the summit is to give dedicated people the ability to come together and work for diversity,” she said.

The summit is intended for anyone on the MU campus to participate, she said.

“We are here as a community to work and make this a better campus,” she said. “After all, it is our university and we have invested interest in it.”

Worthington said the summit is close to capacity and registration might have to close before the deadline.

The conference is to be held May 4 and 5.

Roger Worthington said the summit welcomes MU students, faculty and staff, as well as administrators.