Contributors: Denise O’Neil Green, Ph.D. Rosalinda Barrera, Ph.D.

1. “Documenting the Differences Diversity Makes”:Case Study of the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society (CDMS) as a Campus Change Agent Contributors: Denise O’Neil Green, Ph.D. Rosalinda Barrera, Ph.D. Margaret Browne Huntt, Ph.D. Candidate Julia Johnson Connor, Ph.D.

2. Illinois’ Focus Illinois is a world leader in research, teaching, and public engagement, distinguished by the breadth of its programs, broad academic excellence, and internationally renowned faculty. Since its founding in 1867, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has earned a reputation as a world-class leader in research, teaching, and public engagement. A talented and highly respected faculty is the University’s most significant resource. Many are recognized for exceptional scholarship with memberships in such organizations as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Engineering.   Academic resources on campus are among the finest in the world. The University Library is the largest public university collection in the world, housing 22 million items in the main library and in the more than 40 departmental libraries and units. Students and scholars find the University an ideal place to conduct research. The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology is a model for interdisciplinary research, where eighteen research groups from sixteen University departments work within and across three broadly defined themes: biological intelligence, human-computer intelligent interaction, and molecular and electronic nanostructures. The University is also home to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). The University has a fundamental commitment to undergraduate education. Nearly 28,000 undergraduate students are enrolled in nine undergraduate divisions, which together offer some 4,000 courses in more than 150 fields of study.

3. Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society • Established in 2002, the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society is a unique research and teaching institute that serves as a catalyst for developing new methods for research and interdisciplinary intellectual exchange on issues related to the practice of democracy and equality within a changing multiracial U.S. society. The Center's five core research areas include: • Public Education • Law and Citizenship • Media and Technology • Everyday Life (housing, health, etc.) • The production of new knowledge

4. CDMS Research Group Model Summer 2005 Fall 2005 Spring 2006 Interest Work Health Housing Health Housing Health Housing Working Group Community College Collaborative Media Ethnic Coalition Building Media Ethnic Coalition Building Ford Diversity Project Community College Collaborative Ford Diversity Project Community College Collaborative Research Team Ford Diversity Project Support Offered: Interest Group: ¼ RA or equivalent seed money; $3,000materials/consultation (per academic year) Working Group: ¼ RA or equivalent seed money; $8,000 course buyout (second semester for one faculty member) Research Team: External grant money

5. UIUC Campus Commitments The University of Illinois has made a strategic investment in three different but interrelated programs, each designed to transform a particular aspect of the environment-which together engage faculty, staff, and students in a comprehensive effort to study, discuss, and live with diversity. The first of these investments is the Center for Democracy in a Multicultural Society (CDMS). The second investment is in the Ethnography of the University (EOTU). The third strategic investment the university has made in its diversity initiative is a new living and learning community (LLC) on inter-group relations and integration (Intersections).

6. Ford Project Outcomes & Benchmarks • A preliminary model for using diversity to transform the university, its research, teaching and campus life as exemplified in the work of CDMS, EOTU, and the LLC on inter-group relations and integration • The transformation of the writing curriculum through the development of six undergraduate courses related to the ethnography of race and the university to be offered by 2006. • Qualitative data in the form of a large web-based archive documenting how race figures in the life of UIUC, in and out of class, over the course of an academic year.  Quantitative data in the form of survey research data measuring the changes in student beliefs and attitudes associated with taking introductory courses in ethnic studies, taking EOTU-developed and other courses on race, attending center-sponsored and other out-of-class programming on race, working in interracial serving learning situations, and participating in a diverse living and learning community incorporating new approaches to race.

7. Methodology Text and document analysis (Creswell, 2003; Denzin, 2001; Denzin & Lincoln, 2000; Lincoln & Guba, 1985)  Previous Chancellor’s Statement  University Diversity Committee Report  Center for Democracy Mission Statement  Ford Project Proposal  University President’s Statement

8. UIUC Administration From the former Chancellor’s Welcome Page - Dr. Nancy Cantor (http://www.oc.uiuc.edu/welcome/index.html) The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was established in 1867 to realize that ideal by providing a level of excellence in education and research fully equal to that of the best private schools. Today, this university has many faces: a superb undergraduate institution for exceptionally talented students; a research powerhouse that produces breathtaking discoveries and advances in knowledge; one of the world's leading training grounds for the next generation of scientists, professors, and policy makers; and, a force shaping the possibilities of the future across the domains of human endeavor.

9. UIUC Diversity Committee From the Final Report of the Diversity Initiatives Planning Committee(http://www.provost.uiuc.edu/diversity/commitment/committee/2001-02FinalReport.htm#whatisdiversity) The campus-wide committee’s work focuses on the following areas: preparing students for a diverse workplace; recruiting and retaining students, faculty and staff from sectors of the population that currently do not, in large numbers, view Illinois as a place to study and work; creating a campus climate that values the contribution of all members of the Illinois community; and broadening the opportunity for Illinois to fosterlearning, discovery and engagement through diversity.

10. UI System Administration From the President B. Joseph White’s Acceptance Speech— November 2, 2004 (http://www.uillinois.edu/president/speeches/110204.html) • I will focus intensively on maintaining access to the University as a gateway of opportunity for tens of thousands of talented students as well as the excellence of the University which is the reason these students yearn to be members of our community. • Finally, I will do my best to ensure that our campus communities are models of diverse people working together with mutual respect and thriving in the process.

11. Themes & Questions Analysis and synthesis of the previous statements brought forth the following major areas of concern or consideration: Excellence (Teaching & Service) Training ground (Practical use) Engagement Research Policy making (change agent) Social change (change agent) Questions to think about: What are the investments (and by whom)? Is change to be done incrementally or is it to be bound in ‘deep’ structural upheaval? (Edley) If done incrementally is it a matter of “trickle-up” or “trickle-down” incrementalism? Who’s actually in the conversation and what are the powers that hold together or keep the working group apart? What has the working group done to impact (1) each area represented and (2) the university? How does the working group become a change agent? Issue of legitimacy (who grants it and why)?

12. Initial Conception University of Illinois Excellence in teaching, research & service RESEARCH I N T ER S E C T I O N S E O T U I G D

13. Model 1 •LEADERSHIP •RESOURCES •FUNDING •COMMUNICATION •RESEARCH UIUC’S MISSION CAMPUS COMMITMENT: Research, curriculum, and student life The University of Illinois has made a strategic investment in three different but interrelated programs, each designed to transform a particular aspect of the institution – its research, its teaching and its living environment-which together engage faculty, staff, and students in a comprehensive effort to study, discuss, and live with diversity. INTERGROUP DIALOGUE INTERSECTIONS SURVEY/ RESEARCH EOTU The Center for Democracy in a Multiracial Society (CDMS) STUDENT LIFE RESEARCH SERVICE TRANSFORMATION INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE

14. Model 2 University of Illinois Excellence in teaching, research & service • Collaborative areas: • EOTU • Inter Group Dialogue • Intersections • Research initiatives CDMS (Filter of self & progress) Public education & policy development • University focus areas: • Research • Teaching • Service

15. Model 3 The University of Illinois Leadership commitment to diversity (+) or (-) • Funding • Internal • External • Funding • Internal • External • University • Climate • Positive (+) • Negative (-) MISSION: Research, curriculum & student life INTERGROUP DIALOGUE EOTU INTERSECTIONS SURVEY RESEARCH • University • Culture • Positive (+) • Negative (-) CDMS Filter of self and institutional progress Research Curriculum Student Life TRANSFORMATION INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE

16. Model 4 Anarchical Bureaucratic The University of Illinois Leadership commitment to diversity (+) or (-) • Funding • Internal • External • Funding • Internal • External UIUC’s MISSION: Research, curriculum & student life • University • Climate • Positive (+) • Negative (-) Institutional Dimensions • Behavioral • Historical • Psychological • Structural • University • Culture • Positive (+) • Negative (-) Institutional Characteristics • Decentralized campus • Public • Research I • Size • Other INTERSECTIONS INTERGROUP DIALOGUE SURVEY RESEARCH EOTU CDMS Filter of self and institutional progress Research Curriculum Student Life TRANSFORMATION • Abrupt • Cyclical • Incremental INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE Collegial Political

17. Summative Application • In this era of accountability following Gratz and Grutter, how is your campus documenting the difference diversity makes? • Discussion • Challenges • Confirmations • Disconfirmations Contact information: http://cdms.ds.uiuc.edu