Students come to Cornell expecting to meet people from different backgrounds. But then they end up socializing with people just like themselves. Elizabeth Mannix heard that message over and over this past summer, when she began a one-year term as vice provost for equity and inclusion.

"Students said they became silo-ed fast once they got here, and it is difficult to overcome," said Mannix, the Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Management. "We talked a lot about how the faculty and administration could help overcome that, because it was leading to a negative environment. How do we create a place where people feel more comfortable being more proactive and letting their voices be heard?"

As an answer to that question, the University Diversity Council has initiated several projects this past year to deepen and reinvigorate the university's commitment to creating and sustaining an inclusive campus community.

The Diversity Research Network, for example, which is still in its formative stages, connects scholars, both at Cornell and worldwide, who work on diversity theory, research and practice. "These are the people who are answering the question of why we've got diversity challenges to begin with," Mannix said. The network co-sponsored its first talk April 8, when Peter Glick of Lawrence University addressed how seemingly positive stereotypes harm working women.

Another initiative launched this spring focused on students. At the pilot program "Talking Circles on Race and Racism," one night a week for five weeks, 12 to 15 undergraduates met for frank, respectful dialogues and self-reflection. The Multicultural Resource Center, which developed and facilitated the program, established a welcoming atmosphere that encouraged participants to talk openly about such sensitive issues as program housing. "There was rarely any hesitation on anyone's part to speak to what they were truly feeling," said Durrell Harper '10. "It is through these genuine discussions that we begin to untangle the social construct called racism in our society."

The Office of the Vice Provost is also funding postdoctoral fellow Michelle Duguid to conduct research on UDC-related activities. Meanwhile, such UDC programs as Feedback and Breaking Bread, which began in 2007, continue. Feedback encourages faculty, staff and students to share personal experiences that made them feel welcome or unwelcome at Cornell. Breaking Bread, on the other hand, brings together disparate student organizations that might not otherwise find common ground. This year, Breaking Bread funded 14 Strings! and the Gamelan Ensemble to perform together; the magazines Triple Helix (science) and Kitsch (humor) to co-sponsor a photography contest; and the Cornell Women's Resource Center and Cornell Coalition for Life to discuss abortion.

On the academic side, the 2009 Cornell Faculty Institute for Diversity has accepted 20 faculty members, from lecturers to chaired professors, for a three-day on-campus retreat in July to focus on pedagogical tools for revising course syllabi and facilitating discussions among students with diverse perspectives.

One senior professor, for example, noted that his classes have become much more diverse over the years, and he wants to learn how to connect with the students more effectively, Mannix said. "Another professor in the humanities is interested in being more 'credible' when teaching topics that touch on diversity, while a professor in the sciences has indicated that he is uncertain how to bring topics such as sexual orientation and disability into her syllabus."

The various initiatives offer a variety of approaches to promote a more inclusive environment that embraces and engages differences in race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, class and nationality, Mannix pointed out.

"Some of these approaches will work," she said. "Some won't. But the hope is that for every person these initiatives touch, their influence will radiate out to others on campus and will make a difference over time."