Thursday, June 25, 2009

Some Progress for Missouri University on Diversity; Agreement With Hispanic Board Signed

Some Progress for Missouri University on Diversity; Agreement With Hispanic Board Signed: More than three years after being condemned by an independent auditor as one of the worst universities for faculty diversity and overall racial inclusivity the auditor had ever seen, the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) reports some improvement in its diversity profile.



In 2006, only three of the university’s 115 full professors were Black and one was Latino, the Associated Press reported. Today, with associate and full professor combined, there are two Latino professors and 11 African-American professors, university officials say.



University of Missouri-Kansas City Chancellor Leo E. Morton, and Alfonso Z�rate, chair of the university’s Hispanic Advisory Board, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) Wednesday to establish a framework to address the persisting racial issues, such as increasing the number of underrepresented minorities, financial aid assistance for students that qualify, and improving efforts to recruit and retain minority faculty.