IUPUI

Diversity Planning & Improvement

Multicultural Center Concept Development Committee

Please join us on Wednesday, February 13th in the First Floor Common Area of University College for the announcement update to our campus community and to celebrate our accomplishments.

The event will begin at 2:30 pm and a short program will take place at 2:45 pm with remarks from members of the committee and to introduce the new Interim Director for the Multicultural Center.

As part of the IUPUI diversity planning process and stimulated by the Black Student Initiative we are establishing a process to develop the underlying concepts and broad outlines of a multicultural center. The first step in that process is the work of the Multicultural Center Concept Development Committee (MCCDC).

IUPUI will approach this initiative carefully and thoughtfully, and plans to do that in several phases. As the MCCDC is engaged in its work, The Chancellor will also appoint (a) a design group to begin thinking how to implement the MCCDC's concepts in a physical space and (b) an operations committee that will guide the work of the center over a period of years. Both groups will build upon the groundwork this group establishes.

Between now and the end of March, the MCCDC will undertake the following activities:

1. Study the frameworks that support multicultural centers on other campuses across the country, with particular attention to those at other urban research universities, including IUPUI’s designated peer institutions.Look at the vision, mission, and goal statements for these centers and consider how they are organized and governed, where on the campus they are located, how much space is involved, and how that space is configured and apportioned, the budget for the center, and how the center is financed. (The Chancellor's staff has begun to collect some of this information to share with the MCCDC.)
2. Assess the opinions of the IUPUI community and the broader community regarding the needs and functions that should be served by a multicultural center at IUPUI.
3. Work with Blackburn and Associates in the process of gathering opinions, conceiving of space and its use, and defining the kind of existing space on or near the campus that could accommodate the multicultural concepts you are developing. (We cannot consider new construction for the center at this time.)

Based on the MCCDC studies and deliberations, by Friday, March 30, 2007, the following guiding documents for the Multicultural Center at IUPUI will be prepared:

1. Proposed vision, mission, and goals for the center. In this document please consider the following questions:
   1. What theoretical framework will guide the development of the center and why?
      1. Does the framework direct a focus on all dimensions of diversity (e.g., racial/ethnic minorities, gender, sexual preference, and country of origin) or a focus on one of these?
      2. Does the framework direct a focus on students or expansion beyond students to include faculty and staff?
   2. Within that framework and applied to IUPUI, how will the center help the campus to achieve our goals—particularly diversity and teaching and learning goals (see the campus performance reports and diversity reports)?
   3. How will we judge the center’s effectiveness in meeting campus goals?
   4. How should the center relate to the research mission of the campus (e.g., sponsor research, work with existing school or center research programs, not make research a priority)?
   5. How should the center interact with other units on campus that currently have related missions, such as the Center on Urban and Multicultural Education?
   6. What community collaborations/partnerships should be explored?
   Please provide the data and evidence to support the answers you offer.
2. A first draft of the programmatic needs that will shape the space based on the proposed vision, mission, and goals and work with Blackburn and Associates in the program development process. Blackburn and Associates has a process to accomplish this, including questions such as the following:
   1. What services should be offered through the center?
   2. What types of programs will be offered?
   3. What type of staff functions (e.g., clerical, advising) will be needed to provide the services and programs?
   4. How can we create a safe and welcoming environment to support learning?
   5. How will the center complement and coordinate with other space on campus and in the community—public cultural space, classroom space, programming space?

The MCCDC will not invest time on the specifics of staffing or budget. These details will emerge as additional work is done to identify the operations of the center and the facilities it will occupy.

» View a list of MCCDC Members (PDF)

» View the Multicultural Center Concept Development Committee Final Report (PDF)

» The Ground on Which We Stand (PDF)

» View the Black Student Initiative Update (PDF)

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