UT Libraries’ Diversity Committee
November 13, 2003
Meeting Minutes
Room 605, Hodges Library
Members present: Arab, Bayne, Blocker, Bright, Chaudhuri, Conner, Deeken, Hines, Leach, Mack, Myers, Roller, Royse, Renee Smith, Stephens
I. Announcements
Molly and Becky met with Dean Dewey on October 23rd and shared the Committee’s annual report from last year and this year’s goals.
Continuing education opportunities were discussed. Several campus events are of interest, including the SGA coffee talks/forums on diversity. UT’s Black Cultural Center is co-hosting the 13th annual National Conference for Black Culture Centers in November. JoAnne and Maud attended a UT Training and Development workshop, “Diversity: It’s Not Just Black and White’ on Nov. 11th. There will be a Geier Forum at Tennessee Tech. in Cookeville on Nov. 14th to focus on making campuses more inviting to African Americans. The Committee discussed posting events such as these on the Committee’s webpage calendar.
Recent press releases and publicity opportunities were shared. A Beacon article has been published on the Residents. Becky and Molly have been invited to attend the Nov. 18th meeting of the Dean’s Student Advisory Committee. Barbara periodically shares the Committee’s activities and the Libraries’ diversity efforts with the Chancellor.
Recent activities of ARL’s Diversity Committee were discussed.
Updates were provided on the University’s action re. the resolution on sexual orientation.
II. Group Reports & Updates
A. Staff Enrichment
Events coming up that are being planned and develop include:
1. Committee “icebreaker event” with Rosa Thomas, 12/11
2. Cultural brownbag on Uganda, 11/24 (co-hosted with Training)
3. Student Recognition Program, 2/03 – a working group needs to be formed; Jill is working on the list of students to be honored.
4. Holiday Party, 12/18 – co-hosting with LSA, a subgroup is being formed.
There is no official word yet regarding the Libraries’ disability liaison.
B. Outreach & Collaboration
The group is progressing with their list of diversity resources. How to incorporate the information into the webpage was discussed.
Culture Corner -- The Corner’s webpage needs to be done. Input needs to be solicited for a spring ’04 theme.
III. Residency Program
The Residents updated the Committee on their rotations and projects. A page for the Residents needs to be completed for the Committee’s webpage.
IV. Professional Development
TLA ’04 – The Residents are submitting a presentation proposal and Molly and Becky are submitting a proposal for a tabletalk.
National Diversity Conference, 5/04 – JoAnne is serving on the publicity committee. Registration is now open, but there is no call for papers yet. Barbara has committed UT Libraries to a gold level sponsorship of $1000 for the conference. Gold Sponsor Libraries receive conference registration fees paid for up to four designated participants.
V. Committee Webpage
The Committee discussed with Jeffrey plans for updating and revising the webpage. A timeline for completion was set and the possibility of creating a webpage working group was discussed. Priorities for the site included creating a page for the residency program and the Culture Corner. It is important to keep the website up-to-date, not only for our staff, but also for our audience outside of UT.
The next Committee meeting is December 11, 2003.
Respectfully submitted,
Molly Royse