An Examination of a Culturally Sensitive University Career Center: Outreach, Services, and Evaluation.

Abstract

The demographic composition in the United States has changed considerably in the past few decades. The size of racial/ethnic minority populations is expected to continue to grow substantially into the next millennium due to high immigration rates and birth rates within these groups. In particular, the growth rate among Hispanics and Asian Americans is expected to be considerable. At the same time, the projected increase of European Americans is small in comparison to other groups. By the year 2050, the demographic composition is expected to shift from a predominantly White American society to one in which the total number of racial/ethnic minorities actually out number European Americans (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992). This marks a significant change in the look of our society: one that points to diversification and difference. These changing demographics are being mirrored on university and college campuses, as the number of racial and ethnic minority student enrollment has been on the rise. Since the Civil Rights movement in the 1960's, there has been a greater awareness of the experiences of people of color in our society. In addition, the Civil Rights movement led to the proliferation of other movements from oppressed groups in our society, namely, women and sexual orientation minorities. Overall, these have led to an increased awareness of contextual factors which affect certain individuals in our society. On university campuses, this has been reflected in part by the formation of special interest groups (i.e., Gay,