Summer’s here — and the time is right for dancing in the street! Isn’t it so nice to be OUTSIDE?
Now that the summer is in full swing, I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on our multicultural recruitment efforts at Denison. After an unprecedented year, we are thrilled to have enrolled one of the largest classes of multicultural students in Denison’s history! We look forward to greeting over 150 new multicultural students from across the country to campus in the fall, adding to the growing population of students of color at Denison.
These strides are great; however, creating a uniquely talented and diverse community is a job that can never be finished. Denison continues to place significant emphasis on providing community, increasing representation, and improving efforts to hear voices from historically underrepresented populations across campus. Last year we launched Denison Forward, our antiracism planning and implementation task force, which assesses Denison’s living, learning, and working environment to ensure that all students, faculty, and staff benefit equally from its educational mission. I encourage you to read more about Denison Forward, discover how Denison is working to become diverse by every definition, and watch last fall’s webinar about life on Denison’s predominantly white campus.
We’re also excited that our diversity fly-in program, Dialogue with Denison, will be returning as an on-campus, in-person experience this fall. This selective, fully-funded three day visit program will provide students an opportunity to experience Denison’s beautiful campus, connect with our campus community, observe and participate in classes, hear from alumni, and learn more about multicultural life at Denison. Dialogue with Denison runs from Saturday, November 6 through Monday, November 8, and students must apply by Friday, September 17 for consideration.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions, thoughts, or ideas about multicultural recruitment at Denison. I look forward to working with you and your students!
Nancy Gibson is a Senior Associate Director of Admission and Director of Multi-Ethnic Admission at Denison University. She is a past-president of OACAC and currently serves on the People Subcommittee for Denison Forward, Denison’s antiracism planning and implementation task force.