Carnegie Mellon University
PAE-7: Measuring Campus Diversity Culture

The DAC (Diversity Advisory Council) was created in NOV 1999. The DAC has several working groups to focus on subsets of diversity issues, including the following:

* Faculty Issues
* Staff Issues
* Student Issues (undergraduate and graduate)
* University Culture and Climate Issues

The working groups each had a three-year plan. In year one (2000), they defined the problem. In year two (2001), they studied the problems and issues and developed reports with specific strategies. And in year three (2002), they began implementing the strategies outlined in their reports. The DAC has issued yearly Annual Reports and reports from the individual working groups to track progress and challenges.

In 2008 the University revised its strategic plan and Diversity became a vital element in the pillar of "Community Success". The DAC sub-committee charged with the writing task has produced “A Guiding Principle for
University Culture” , which is intended as a blueprint for shaping the next phase of Carnegie Mellon's diversity efforts. The Guiding Principle, in its draft form, is in the process of being presented to various constituent groups across campus for their insights and opinions.The DAC, in partnership with the university community, will update it on a yearly basis - ensuring that the Guiding Principle remains a fluid, evolving, dynamic document,
responding to the times but remaining true to the values, mission and vision of Carnegie Mellon.
The yearly reports can be seen on http://www.cmu.edu/diversity-guide/overview/diversity-advisory-council/report-data.html

The fall 2009 freshmen class contained 105 black freshmen (7% of the class), up from 79 one year ago
(5.5% of the class). In addition, the incoming class enrolled 95 Hispanic/Latino freshmen, and 9
Native American freshmen.

A student Deliberative Loop® regarding the Guiding Principle took place on Saturday, September 26, 2009, and was attended by 45 students, including graduate students, and by H&SS dean John Lehoczky, whose presence the students found very valuable. A sample of the questions and responses:
How important do you think it is for Carnegie Mellon to:
1. bring together talent that is representative of the nation and the world?
- 81% Very important
2. create an environment that fosters meaningful and authentic exchanges?
- 82% Very Important
To what extent does Carnegie Mellon:
3. bring together talent that is representative of the nation and the world?
- 75% very much or quite a bit
4. create an environment that fosters meaningful and authentic exchanges?
- 89% very much or quite a bit
To what extent did reading the Guiding Principle:
5. broaden your understanding of CMU’s vision for university culture?
- 74% a great deal or a moderate amount
6. encourage you to reflect on your personal lived experience at CMU?
- 84% a great deal or a moderate amount
7. present arguments or perspectives that you hadn’t considered before?
-63% a great deal or a moderate amount
8. change your views pertaining to diversity on campus?
-32% a great deal or a moderate amount
9. strengthen your existing views pertaining to diversity on campus?
- 75% a great deal or a moderate amount
A post-Loop question was asked: “Are meaningful interactions important?”
10. 95% responded affirmatively to that question.

In addition, the Guiding Principle draft was presented to members of the Black Student Advisory Committee (BSAC) on October 21, 2009.

Two major themes emerged among the written and verbal comments at the Deliberative Loop® event and among the verbal comments made by members of the BSAC after the presentation.

A complete report will be distributed when available.

Best Practices: Schools and Colleges

1. Carnegie Institute of Technology (CIT)
Over the last year, the college has implemented several new initiatives aimed at attracting and
retaining more female and minority students. Some of these initiatives include:
• The creation of a Women in Engineering brochure.

• This year, CIT increased it’s presence and visibility at the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) conferences by
involving more faculty in our recruitment efforts.

• BASE (Building Alliances for Success in Engineering), a peer-to-peer mentoring program,modeled on the COMPASS program in the Mellon College of Science, aimed at
improving retention of minorities beyond their first year, was inaugurated. In this program,sophomore students are paired with upper-class mentors who share experiences and
provide guidance.

Society of Women Engineers
The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) establishes engineering as a highly desirable career for women through
professional development programs, networking and leadership opportunities, scholarships,and outreach activities. This year fourteen SWE members attended the National SWE Conference in Baltimore in October and seventeen SWE members attended the Regional SWE Conference in Akron in February.The SWE section at Carnegie Mellon University is one of the most active collegiate SWE sections in the country and has won numerous awards for excellence.

2. School of Computer Science

Women@SCS has been one of the most active student professional organizations on campus with regard to both outreach and inreach (support activities for students on campus). Carol Frieze is the current director of Women@SCS
with Lenore Blum (the founding director) playing the role of faculty advisor.

A cursory look at the Women@SCS website (http://women.cs.cmu.edu/) gives a hint of the
organization’s many activities and projects.
Since 2006 the percentage of women enrolling in the undergraduate CS major at Carnegie Mellon has held steady at around 20-23% (with negligible attrition), while across the nation women’s enrollment has continued to fall.

3.H. John Heinz III College
The H. John Heinz III College implemented a variety of new initiatives this year to help foster an
environment of diversity and inclusion. The Buddy Program was the first step in creating cross-cultural conversations among students.Over the summer, 114 incoming international students were matched with “buddies,” or returning students from different cultures and backgrounds. This program allowed returning students to share information and ease the fears of the incoming students while learning about one another’s cultures.

During orientation, incoming students were assigned to multidisciplinary teams called a “c-squads,” in an effort to carry out Dean Krishnan’s C-Squared Initiative to create more “collaboration and connections” among students within the Heinz College.

4. College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department of Modern Languages
Kenya Dworkin and Felipe Gómez continue to guide the Círculo Juvenil de Cultura, an outreach initiative organized for Spanish-speaking children and their families in western Pennsylvania.

During Fall 2009, Modern Language (ML) students participated in a partnership between the Department of Modern Languages and the Pittsburgh Public Schools. They tutored students of Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish in grades K-12 and promoted the integration of technology with the learning of world languages.