Emory Report

Mar. 1, 1999

Volume 51, No. 22

Issues in progress: President's Commission on the Status of Minorities At its Feb. 22 meeting, a great deal of the commission's focus was on reviving its membership and reevaluating plans and objectives for the coming year. Emory College Associate Dean Nagueyalti Warren kicked off the meeting and told members about "Essence of Emory," a planned event--a type of "rush" party--for admitted minority students this spring. Members then talked about the Professional Development Fund, which dispersed $4,100 for support to faculty, staff and student travel and conference attendance. Warren received a grant to present a paper at the College Language Association in North Carolina April 14-18. Other recipients are the Voices of Inner Strength gospel choir for a concert and college recruitment tour to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, later this month; and Educational Studies' Paulette Dilworth, Jennifer Obidah, Frank Pajares and Vanessa Siddle Walker to present papers at the American Educational Research Association. Vera Rorie then passed around the contents of a report from a conference on diversity hosted by the American Association of Colleges and Universities held in November at Penn State. She said the conference was a valuable overview of how people are handling diversity issues on their campuses and cited the University of Minnesota's program as one with which she was particularly impressed. Past chair Bob Lee and Pat Marsteller told members about a letter they had sent to deans reminding them of the commission's upcoming nomination process. They stressed to the deans that nominees do not have to be people of color but only those interested in minority issues. The PCSM is particularly interested in more faculty and staff representation among its members. The terms of members are three years. Since attendance among present members has declined and there has been some confusion about the term of service, Marsteller suggested that the commission contact anyone who served in the last two or three years if they are willing to serve out their terms. The nominating process closes March 5 so that new members can attend the commission's last meeting in April and sign up for committees. Plans call for a half-day retreat before the beginning of the next school year to outline plans and priorities with new and old members present. The meeting ended with Rorie's announcement of the selection of 10 new Martin Luther King scholars, who'll received four-year, full-tuition scholarships to attend Emory. Four Benjamin E. Mays scholars were selected for half-tuition scholarships. The next meeting of the PCSM will be March 22 at 3 p.m. in 400 Administration Building. --Stacey Jones Return to March 1, 1999, contents page