Growing Our Mindset: A Diversity Summit Assessment

Abstract

In 2003, the Kansas State University College of Agriculture established a diversity programs office to assist the college with recruitment, retention, and graduation of underrepresented students. The Kansas State University Tilford Group has established standards for multicultural competency development that are founded in three primary discussion areas: knowledge, personal attributes, and skills. After several campus incidents, a university-wide event, KSUnite, was created to educate students and improve campus climate. Because diversity is an invaluable element of education, the Kansas State University College of Agriculture Diversity Programs Office seeks to educate students, faculty, and staff in the areas of cultural competency. To attain this objective, the Kansas State University College of Agriculture Diversity Programs Office co-hosted a diversity summit entitled “Growing Our Mindset” in the fall of 2017. At the conclusion of the summit, participants completed a Likert scale questionnaire that measured their development of cultural competencies as a result of forum participation. Questionnaire results and demographic information were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Overall, attendees responded favorably to the forum and indicated that diversity discussions should continue via an ongoing series. To continue this effort, the diversity programs office will utilize the obtained information to further develop cultural competencies within the College of Agriculture.