Nearly 150 years ago diversity had its own buzzwords -- in the phrase of Cornell founders Ezra Cornell and A.D. White, "an institution where any person can find instruction in any study." To find the state of diversity in 2007 at Cornell, go online to http://www.cornell.edu/diversity/. There, you will find Cornell's new Web gateway on diversity and inclusion, "Discovery and Action: Cornell's Commitment to Diversity."

Cornell has expanded its initiatives to improve faculty, staff and student diversity and its efforts to embrace students of all genders, backgrounds, ethnicities and disabilities and to promote the knowledge and analytical skills needed to think critically about human diversity and to appreciate it.

"Cornell has a vast array of initiatives in place to enhance the diversity of our administration, staff, students and faculty," says Robert Harris Jr., Cornell vice provost for diversity and faculty development.

According to the new gateway, Cornell has "committed to extending its legacy of recruiting a heterogeneous faculty, student body and staff; fostering a climate that doesn't just tolerate differences but treasures them; and providing rich opportunities for learning from those differences. To that end, each of Cornell's constituent assemblies endorsed the Statement on Diversity and Inclusiveness, 'Open Doors, Open Hearts, and Open Minds.' The current site is designed to let you know what we are doing, how we are doing, and how you can get involved."

The site, which highlights the university's various initiatives and diversity plans, studies, programs, courses, publications, reports, events and resources, is intended to foster and monitor progress toward developing an inclusive environment and a truly diverse student body, staff and faculty, says Harris.

These are some examples of the site's features:

Campus climate

To promote an inclusive climate, the site provides links to more than a dozen current efforts, including multicultural student programs throughout the university's undergraduate colleges; hundreds of courses on issues related to diversity; a Bias Response Program that tracks incidents ranging from derogatory comments to hate crimes; and a revamped Diversity Council site that will concentrate on the university's priorities and track progress.

Faculty diversity

Of tenured and tenure-track faculty, 24.5 percent are women and 14 percent are minorities (including Asians), compared with peer institutions, where the average is 25.1 percent and 16.5 percent, respectively. The Cornell goal: "to rank among the leaders."

Featured on the Web site are the Provost's Academic Diversity Postdoctoral Program, which brings three underrepresented minority scholars to campus each year, and the Women in Science and Engineering Program, which provides funds to recruit women. Also discussed is a new $3.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to increase the number of women in the sciences and engineering and to enhance the role of women in leadership positions.

Other efforts featured include the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, a clearinghouse of jobs in higher education throughout the region, and the university's Dual Career Office.

Staff recruitment and retention

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, about 16 percent of Tompkins County's residents, but only 7 percent of Cornell's nonacademic staff, are minorities. Cornell's goal: to achieve a workforce that more accurately reflects the local community and encourages more women and minorities to enter administrative and managerial positions as well as skilled trades.

Links on the site include Human Resources' Skilled Trades Diversity Council to recruit more women and minorities into carpentry, masonry, electrical and plumbing positions; efforts in the Office of Workforce Diversity, Equity and Life Quality to promote equal opportunity, affirmative action, diversity and balance between employees' work and personal lives; the Qualified University Employees Seeking Transfer Program to retain high-quality staff who want to transfer to different jobs; and efforts to purchase from female- and minority-owned businesses.

Student diversity

In the Ivy League, Cornell lags behind most schools with its 26.8 percent minority undergraduate enrollment, yet it is one of the most economically diverse major research universities.

More than a dozen programs have been helping to increase enrollments of underrepresented minorities over the years; these include need-blind admission services; a Cornell Alumni-Student Mentoring Program; Multicultural Hosting Weekends for underrepresented students; and a comprehensive network of support services through the Office of Minority Educational Affairs.