Making Progress
UW-Oshkosh Contributes to Plan 2008

By Jean Giovanetti

Many of the goals in UW System's Plan 2008, including efforts to increase recruitment and retention of students, faculty, staff and administrators of color, may seem daunting for UW institutions during these budget-strapped times.

However, administrators at UW-Oshkosh have reported significant progress in reaching their goals in recent months, and college faculty report that their efforts are also showing signs of success.

For example, in 1998, 20 American Indian high school students from reservations across Wisconsin visited the UW-Oshkosh campus as part of a program entitled "Indian Teachers for Indian Children," which was designed to attract American Indian students to teaching professions. The program drew an average of 25 students annually from 1999–2001, and last year, 14 students from the program returned as college freshmen.

In addition, up to 20 additional undergraduate and graduate students received funds to pay tuition and fees for the fall, spring and summer terms through a federal grant written by Carmen Coballes-Vega, dean of the College of Education and Human Services at UW-Oshkosh. The grant allowed funds to be distributed to refugees and children of refugees seeking careers in education.

And, in an effort to expand the work being done on campus, UW-Oshkosh has encouraged an adjunct faculty member from the community to begin advanced graduate coursework in the near future.

UW-Oshkosh students conduct social work field placements in programs such as Head Start, which serve multicultural populations at 13 centers throughout the Fox Valley. (UW-Oshkosh)

These efforts show that when it comes to increasing diversity at all levels of the university, as Coballes-Vega has said, it takes a bit of creative thinking.

"We've done not just the normal things that you do," Coballes-Vega said.

Student recruitment methods have included expanded field and research experiences that allow faculty and students to work with groups from different races, and linguistic and socio-economic backgrounds. For example, UW-Oshkosh has directed a program to support bilingual teachers of English as a Second Language, which has led to an increased enrollment among Hmong and Spanish-speaking students.

"Both undergraduates and teachers of K-12 students are enrolled in this program," Coballes-Vega said. "It is a growing area of need in the Fox Valley."

Pre-college programs geared toward specific populations, such as the Indian Teachers for Indian Students program, allow potential enrollees to visit and become familiar with the campus and the faculty long before they are eligible to apply as undergraduate students.

Faculty and staff at UW-Oshkosh support the unique needs of multicultural students. (UW-Oshkosh)

To recruit faculty and staff, UW-Oshkosh has encouraged attendance at conferences, memberships in special interest groups, participation in programs geared toward increasing campus diversity, and networking with existing faculty and staff members.

"We identify people in graduate programs and tap into the community on an ad hoc basis, which has allowed us to include those from the Asian-American, African-American and Native-American communities," Coballes-Vega said. "We have a lot more success through networking than by placing ads."

UW-Oshkosh Provost Keith Miller said such efforts are common on the UW-Oshkosh campus. For example, the admissions department has hired a part-time specialist who works to retain Native-American students, and another serves as a special contact for African-American students.

"They both serve as a resource, as support for these students," Miller said. "They answer questions and are available to help potential students and families become comfortable within the higher education setting."

Fall 2003 undergraduate admissions show that students from diverse backgrounds are becoming more comfortable with UW-Oshkosh. At the start of the Spring semester, the campus had received 257 applications from freshmen minority students, compared to 140 one year ago.

Multicultural students from UW-Oshkosh are also attaining leadership positions. For example, Tommie L. Jones, Jr., a former student government president at UW-Whitewater, who is now a UW-Oshkosh graduate student in public administration, serves as the student member on the UW System Board of Regents.

However, the goals of Plan 2008 are broad, and administrators admit they are still refining efforts to increase diversity.

"It's a big task," said Coballes-Vega, who recently accepted a position at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minn. "But you take a big task and divide it into manageable pieces."

Campus Diversity Depends on Good Relationships Muriel Hawkins (UW-Oshkosh) Knowing your audience is critical when it comes to increasing diversity on campus, according to Muriel Hawkins, assistant vice chancellor for academic support at UW-Oshkosh. "If you want to reach out to persons of color, you must go out into their communities," Hawkins said. Hawkins helped UW-Oshkosh make great strides toward accomplishing this goal through a recent trip to Community Baptist Church of Greater Milwaukee. Several UW-Oshkosh administrators accompanied Hawkins to Milwaukee, including Carmen Coballes-Vega, dean of the College of Education and Human Services; Janet Hagen, chair of the department of human services and professional leadership; and Kathryn Henn-Reinke and Alfred Kisubi, departmental faculty members. Following a series of such visits, the campus created field experiences last semester for university students studying human services. "The students will continue doing field placements in various settings," Hawkins said. "These include placements in Another Place, a shelter operated by the church for abused children, and grant writing to increase arts programs at Community Vision, the church's elementary school." The shelter is one of the church's 17 outreach ministries. Other ministries include a business development center, credit union, food pantry, thrift shop and a 30-block redevelopment project called Community Village. Hawkins said visits to the church are part of ongoing efforts to establish partnerships and linkages with African American churches and other organizations in communities of color. Chancellor Richard Wells and Provost Keith Miller also accompanied Hawkins on one of last year's visits, she added. "We met with two prominent African-American church officials, two Milwaukee high school principals and guidance counselors to establish additional partnerships," Hawkins said. "The goal is to provide opportunities for their students at UW-Oshkosh through admission to the university, enrollment in pre-college programs, campus visits and tours and through other educational outreach programs and activities." —Jean Giovanetti