Rationale and History
History of the NCID
Timeline
President Coleman's Remarks at the NCID's Launch
History of the NCID
From its inception, the University of Michigan has distinguished itself as a pioneer in diversity, illustrated in its historically progressive policies toward women, people of color, and the LGBT community; the revolutionary impact of the Michigan Mandate; and most recently, our proactive responses to the constraints of Proposal 2. But it was during the affirmative action lawsuits challenging our admissions policies that many U-M administrators and faculty became acutely aware of the University of Michigan’s responsibility to provide continued leadership in advancing diversity and education as a means of achieving equity, democracy, and freedom in our society. At that time, we witnessed firsthand the tremendous influence that social institutions can wield when they band together to defend and pursue the values of diversity.
For Senior Vice Provost Lester Monts, these recognitions renewed a vision of launching a national diversity center here on campus, a site for bringing together and equipping leaders from a variety of social networks to engage deeply with the challenges and opportunities of diversity. With enthusiastic support from President Mary Sue Coleman and then-Provost Paul Courant, he led an intense brainstorming and planning session with a team of U-M faculty and administrators during the summer of 2003, resulting in a proposal. In December of 2003, the University of Michigan received a generous grant from the Ford Foundation to support the planning process for a National Center for Institutional Diversity.
Following the first annual U-M Diversity Summit in February 2004, President Coleman created a campus-wide National Center for Institutional Diversity Steering Committee to consult with leading thinkers on issues of diversity and to discern the most pressing issues for the Center’s attention. To gather additional counsel from leaders across the country, Senior Vice Provost Lester Monts and others held gatherings of external stakeholders at several national conferences during 2004. Recognizing the need for more extended advice from national leaders, the Steering Committee decided to hold a national working conference in Ann Arbor on May 17–18, 2005, which was titled “Futuring Diversity: Creating a National Agenda.”
This conference was tremendously successful, involving over 300 local and national leaders from a broad range of geographical areas and social networks. It featured panel discussions that centered on the future of diversity in the following areas: global relationships; workplace and marketplace; community engagement; health; the arts; K-12 education; and higher education. With the help of over 70 campus leaders serving as small-group facilitators or scribes, we made a concerted, intensive effort to seek recommendations from each of the conference participants and to actively engage them in identifying some of the most pressing diversity challenges in our nation. One of the greatest highlights of the entire event was the third annual Nancy Cantor Distingished Lecture on Intellectual Diversity, delivered by Richard Atkinson, President Emeritus of the University of California System.
Strengthened by this local and national outpouring of support, as well as the insightful recommendations provided by the conference participants, the National Center for Institutional Diversity became a fully functioning reality in the fall of 2005, having secured a temporary facility, annual budget, and support staff. During the 2005–2006 academic year, Professor Emerita Patricia Gurin served as the Acting Director, and Professor Phillip Bowman assumed the role of Founding Director in August 2006.
Timeline of the NCID’s Development
- December 2003: Planning support obtained from the Ford Foundation
- April 2004: Advisory meeting of 100 campus leaders
- July 2004: Formation of the NCID Steering Committee
- 2004–2005: Ongoing dialogue with higher education organizations such as the Association of American College and Universities, Association of American Universities, American Council on Education, The College Board, and the Committee on Institutional Cooperation
- May 2005: A national planning conference on “Futuring Diversity” at the University of Michigan provides a set of recommendations from diversity leaders from a variety of social networks. The NCID is officially launched.
- Summer 2005: Commitments from the President and Provost for infrastructural needs
- 2005–2006: Professor Emerita Patricia Gurin is named the Acting Director. With her leadership, the NCID develops several charter programmatic activities. The national search for the founding director is underway.
- June 2006: The NCID hosts a national meeting of directors of diversity programs to identify priorities for cross-campus collaboration.
- Summer 2006: Professor Phillip J. Bowman is selected as the Founding Director of the NCID.
- 2006–2007: Professor Bowman initiates a strategic agenda-setting process, working in concert with the NCID Steering Committee and other stakeholders to move the new Center further toward national and international prominence.
President Coleman's Remarks at Launch of the NCID
Remarks from President Mary Sue Coleman at the Futuring Diversity Conference