History of the Common Ground Initiative
The seeds of the Common Ground initiative were sown in 2002 when students created the program "Dialogues in Black and White", a series of honest discussions about race and diversity. Shortly thereafter, the former president and provost of the University convened the Common Ground Commission, which spent a year studying issues of diversity and inclusion on campus and then produced a report of its findings.
In 2004, the Commission recommended that an Action Committee be created which would outline specific steps necessary to create an inclusive community. In 2005, the first Common Ground Action Committee released the Common Ground Action Plan, a roadmap for progress designed to:
- Develop and execute specific goals and strategies for increasing diversity among staff, students, and faculty
- Develop and execute a process for making diversity more intentionally inclusive, integrated, and valued so as to become permanently embedded and sustainable
- Identify assessments to measure progress, monitor goals for long-term success, and serve as the basis for ongoing strategy development
Out of that Action Plan, the Office of Common Ground was established and its first director and coordinator were hired. In addition, two staff members were hired in Human Resource Services in the area of Organizational Learning and Development, and an additional recruiter was hired in Undergraduate Admission.
In the summer of 2007, Dr. Edward L. Ayers assumed the presidency of the University and with his presence has come a renewed sense that diversity and inclusion are central to the mission of the institution. In the spring of 2008, he announced that diversity and inclusivity would be one of the five priorities of his Strategic Plan, and he has convened a Working Group to further study how the goals of greater diversity in our student, staff, and faculty can be achieved. Learn more about the University's strategic planning process.
