[media-credit name=’Zhao Lim/The Badger Herald’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]

Thursday’s annual diversity forum at the University of Wisconsin Memorial Union will outline strategic diversity goals and engage campus community members in discussion about UW’s challenges in reaching these goals, according to UW officials.

With over 400 people registered to participate in the event, UW Vice Provost for Diversity and Climate Damon Williams said he looks forward to updating the campus on UW’s progress toward a more diverse university.

Among the most noticeable changes is the reorganization of UW’s once disconnected jumble of diversity programs into a single entity – the Division for Diversity and Climate – under Williams’ direction.

The reorganization is part of a broader journey that will continue to change and move forward, providing opportunities to meet more aggressive goals to increase student and faculty diversity at UW, Williams said.

With key programs under his direction, Williams will focus on strengthening organization and stability within and between programs like the Pre-College Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence, Posse, First Wave, and the Center for Educational Opportunity, Williams said.

In light of these recent changes, Williams said he sees the forum as an opportunity to gain insightful feedback while engaging with the campus community in discussion about the diversity challenges at UW.

While UW has yet to reach many of its diversity goals in terms of minority retention numbers, diverse faculty, affordable tuition and more, Williams said he wants to see UW achieve the same level of excellence in diversity as it prides itself in other areas, such as research and sports.

As a responsibility to students, Williams said UW must ensure they have a diverse experience in an environment that mirrors the environment they will be in when they graduate.

In order to reach these goals, Williams will focus on sound strategies within key diversity programs – like PEOPLE – while also working with students and faculty.

Williams pointed specifically to PEOPLE and said they have four principles that will help minority and financially strained K-12 students throughout Wisconsin graduate from high school and attend a post-secondary institution.

The biggest concern Williams has regarding changes to UW’s climate is that it is not changing fast enough. “We’ve made some gains and we’ve been successful in some different ways, but probably the thing I’m most concerned about is what can we do to quicken the pace of change going forward,” he said.

As moderator of a panel discussion at Thursday’s forum, Patty Loew, associate professor in the department of life sciences communication, said the forum will provide a non-threatening environment for important discussion.

With shrinking budgets and a tight economic environment, Loew said she would like to see new economic opportunities for students of color come from the forum.

More scholarships and financial aid could fill this need, she said. Right now Loew said the UW community has honorable intentions regarding diversity, but focuses too much on the number of minorities on campus rather than accepting their different values.

“I think people genuinely want to be diverse…but I think we get tripped up on color,” Loew said. “If we are sincere in attracting people of color to our community…we also have to accept those diverse people bring different values.”