Standard 4

Element Three: Experiences Working with Diverse Candidates

Level: Initial and Advanced Programs

Table 4.4 provides a summary of the unit’s candidate demographics. The table also compares our unit demographics with those of the institution as a whole and with the state demographics for Kansas and the surrounding states served by the university. The majority of our candidates are white. This is especially so among those in our initial teacher preparation programs (91.3 percent). The majority in both our initial and advanced programs are also female. We do not keep figures on students’ sexual orientation, though a number of the current students openly identify themselves as GLBT—gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered persons. Several of the unit’s candidates are subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The unit is committed to enhancing and maintaining a diverse and dynamic faculty, staff and student population—sincerely believing that a diverse faculty and student body strengthen the School by allowing a variety of perspectives to be integral to the School’s programs, policies and practices that more accurately reflect our diverse society and world. Through the deliberate and targeted efforts of its Multicultural Committee, Multicultural Scholars Program (MSP), and the McNair Scholars Program, the unit and its programs actively work to generate a student applicant pool characterized by diversity. The unit uses data from the Holmes Group, McNair Scholars, and the American Psychological Association to identify prospective minority applicants for contact and to invite their applications. Additionally, faculty members recruit at neighboring institutions (e.g., Haskell Indian Nations University) if we offer programs that their candidates want and the programs are not offered in their home institutions, serve as McNair Scholars’ mentors, and provide long-term mentoring to students to increase and retain the diversity of the unit’s student body. In addition, the unit makes efforts to “grow its own” by encouraging qualified minority candidates in our initial licensure programs to apply for our advanced programs. Annually, the unit receives a number of applications from international students—some of these being encouraged by the international faculty visiting scholars within our unit and some by our own faculty as they travel to make presentations at various international conferences.

The unit also has a strong scholarship program funded both by generous donors and through tuition enhancement fees paid by all students. More than $600,000 is awarded annually. Many of the unit’s endowed scholarships are designated for candidates evidencing special needs, ethnic diversity, or cultural diversity. Some are designated specifically for students in our initial teacher preparation programs; some are designated specifically for students in our advanced programs. A portion of the fee-supported scholarship funds is specifically designated for need-based scholarships for the unit’s undergraduate and graduate students. A portion of the fee-supported scholarship funds also is used for graduate student recruitment, for which diversity and need are often used in determining awardees.

The unit is an active member of the Multicultural Scholars Program, whose goal is to recruit, retain and support candidates at both the initial and advanced levels. The MSP is one several mechanisms through which candidates have opportunities to interact with diverse candidates. An important goal of MSP is to continue to increase diversity within professional careers in education. Candidates, as members, become part of a community who help make the transition to the unit a smooth and positive one. The program addresses academic, social, and personal aspects of candidates’ experiences. As a member of the School of Education’s Multicultural Scholars Program, candidates also are eligible to receive a scholarship. As documented by the grade point averages shown in http://soe.ku.edu/ncate/exhibits/MSP-Survey.doc, MSP candidates are academically talented.

Table 4.4: Candidate Demographics

¹ Source: Because official University student records do not allow for distinguishing among programs/concentrations within graduate degree programs offered by the unit’s various departments, the figures represented in this column reflect race/ethnicity and gender breakdowns for all graduate students enrolled in the Unit’s advanced programs based on individual department student records.

² Source: TABLE 4-110. HEAD COUNT BY SEX FALL 1975-200, University of Kansas, Lawrence and Edwards Campuses (Office of Institutional Research and Planning); TABLE 4-113 STUDENT HEAD COUNT BY RACE/ETHNICITY (SELF-REPORTED), FALL 1983-2005, University of Kansas, Lawrence and Edwards Campuses (Office of Institutional Research and Planning)

³ Source: U.S. Census Bureau Quick Facts; data for 2004 (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/ retrieved 7/18/06)