CU's executive leadership appeared Dec. 7 at the meeting of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Diversity at the Tivoli Center at Denver's Auraria campus to update the commission on the university's efforts toward enhancing diversity at CU-Boulder.

Joining CU-Boulder Chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson were Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement Sallye McKee, Provost Phil DiStefano, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Ron Stump, CU-Boulder Tri-Executives Charles Gilford and Hadley Brown, Dave Aragon of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement and Patricia Rankin of the College of Arts and Sciences, along with their counterparts from CU's other two campuses.

Following a system update from CU President Hank Brown, the chancellors of the three CU campuses gave updates on progress made on diversity at their respective universities.

Vice Chancellor McKee and Chancellor Peterson led CU-Boulder's presentation, focusing on such elements of progress as campus climate, student enrollment and retention, the profile of new freshmen, strengthening our connections to K-12 and newly recommended actions in programs, recruiting and financial aid that may contribute to greater diversity in the long and short-term among CU-Boulder students and faculty.

Vice Chancellor Ron Stump told the commission of the successes of CU-Boulder's pre-collegiate program in attracting students of color as eventual CU students. "Our admissions office and our pre-collegiate programs work with a lot of schools, churches and counselors to make students aware of the opportunities available in higher education and at CU," Stump said.

"We have also reached out to the Denver Ministerial Alliance," he added.

McKee summed up CU-Boulder's guiding values regarding diversity for the commissioners, saying "We value our people who embody gender, ethnic, cultural, geographic and intellectual diversity. We just believe that diversity makes us better people – the chancellor reminds us this is a value in all the important work we're doing."

Commissioners agreed to continue the commission for another 12-14 months and set the goal of adding at least two more scheduled meetings in that time.