Innovations in Inclusion: The Purdue Faculty & Staff Diversity Story, 1997-2008 (review)

Most institutions of higher education in the United States today endorse a mission of preparing students to live and work in a global society. Yet institutionalizing inclusion and diversity as core values presents a formidable challenge for colleges and universities. The common stumbling block is determining just how to address exclusionary structural traditions and institutional practices in order to forge the culture change necessary for creating a welcoming community. Diversity and inclusion initiatives prescribe that traditions and institutional practices be addressed on multiple levels and involve many actors.

Innovations in Inclusion: The Purdue Faculty & Staff Diversity Story, 1997-2008 chronicles the efforts of one institution to change its campus culture. Barbara Benedict Bunker and Janice Eddy, authors of the monograph, interviewed key informants and examined university documents, archives, and websites in spring 2007. Their resulting report speaks to contemporary concerns about making diversity and inclusion a priority in practice and positions culture change as the core of the Purdue story.

In the introduction, Bunker writes: "This is the first chapter in the unfolding story of the fundamental shift in campus culture that required Purdue's students to act as culturally competent global citizens" (p. 1). Bunker explains that, although Purdue has a long history of recruiting and retaining underrepresented students and women in technical fields, that history fails to account for the fact that these students have often felt unwelcome. The monograph is a description of "work with faculty and staff in the colleges and schools to change the academic culture so that students, whatever their diversity and gender, will feel welcomed, supported, and included" (p. 2). The report includes six sections that describe the culture change process that evolved over a 10-year period, based on first-person accounts and narratives.

The first chapter, "The Narrative: The Multicultural Forum" outlines the 10-year development of Purdue's diversity initiative, beginning with how the process began in 1997. Interestingly, the idea of changing the culture was promoted by a Purdue alumna who challenged the College of Engineering faculty to move beyond the narrow focus of offering summer programs to support minority students. She suggested that, instead of changing students, Purdue's efforts should focus on changing the campus environment. Her suggestion raised critical concerns that faculty cannot prepare students to work in a "global environment unless they too understood and could be effective in that world" (p. 6).

Consequently, the university administration planned and implemented a series of multicultural forums to engage diverse groups of faculty, students, and staff in critical dialogue with one another. The multicultural forums had two goals: (a) to increase cultural competence in preparing students for a diverse global world, and (b) to encourage and promote personal responsibility for an environment of inclusion and diversity in the university and wider community. Two common themes surfacing throughout the chapter were the tremendous task of getting all stakeholders involved and the necessity of viewing culture change as an ongoing process.

In Chapter 2, "The Narrative: Developing the Gender Forum," the authors shift the focus to gender issues. The gender forums focused on three goals: (a) to increase knowledge and understanding of gender differences, (b) to practice engaging others who are different, and (c) to take actions that will make the campus culture more inclusive for everyone. The gender forum activities were structured to help participants explore gender attitudes, awareness, and practice. These sessions also included practice in developing competence in engaging with others across gender lines. At the conclusion of the forum, participants were expected to have improved their skills in terms of gender issues and communication, enhancing their ability to reach their potential both professionally and personally. For a variety of reasons, the gender forums proved to be more challenging to implement than the multicultural forums. The chapter highlights some of the complexities associated with gender issues and culture change...