Diversity
See also: The Iowa Promise: A Strategic Plan for The University of Iowa, 2005-2010
The Provost plays a leading role in campus diversity efforts. It is the responsibility of the Office of the Provost to oversee the recruitment and retention of a highly qualified student body and faculty, diverse in race, gender, and cultural background, and to help ensure a climate in which all faculty, staff, and students have the opportunity to succeed.
Because creating a diverse learning environment is crucial to the University's ability to carry out its educational mission, it is a top priority for the Provost Office to work toward increasing faculty and student diversity (including international students and faculty as well as U.S. ethnic minorities and women), and to increase attention to diversity in the curriculum, in research, and in all aspects of University life.
The Special Assistant to the President for Equal Opportunity and Diversity and Associate Provost, who oversees three key diversity offices (the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, Opportunity at Iowa, and Support Service Programs), reports dually to the University President and to the Provost. Through the Associate Provost and Dean of International Programs, the Office of the Provost works to increase attention to international issues, facilitate international study and research opportunities, and widen the University global perspective. The Associate Provost for Faculty works with the Special Assistant to the President for Equal Opportunity and Diversity and Associate Provost to monitor the recruitment and retention of women and minority faculty.
All of the associate provosts, collegiate deans, and others who report to the Provost are held responsible for ensuring that diversity efforts are treated as a priority within their units.
"A dedication to diversity is part of the democratic ethos that should help to guide the public university, and it reflects as well our commitment to academic excellence. After all, diversity—broadly defined—is to stimulate intellectual innovation and is essential to the educational experience of today's students, who will be living their lives not only in a society that is increasingly diverse, but also as citizens of a global community in which success and personal happiness will depend on their ability to appreciate and negotiate difference on a global scale . . . . To educate our students for their future in an increasingly diverse culture, we need to build diversity into everything we do."
--Executive Vice President and Provost Michael J. Hogan
