Thiel College launching President’s Council for Diversity and Inclusion

GREENVILLE, Pa.-- As part of the continuing focus on diversity and inclusion at Thiel College, the President’s Council for Diversity and Inclusion has been launched.

The institution-wide panel includes President Susan Traverso, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion Anthony E. Jones Jr., Ed.D., students, alumni, members of the Board of Trustees, faculty and staff members. The first meeting is Wednesday, April 14.

“The council will guide and set priorities moving forward for initiatives to strengthen our community and ensure its commitment to diversity and inclusion. This council will heighten coordination of our efforts and contribute to the next strategic plan,” Traverso said. “We incorporated diversity and inclusion into the College’s mission statement when we created the strategic plan in 2016, and the council will continue that work of advancing diversity and inclusion and make it a point of emphasis going forward. At Thiel, we understand and respect the widest interpretation of diversity.”

About 23 percent of Thiel’s student body identifies as a member of a minority or underrepresented population, which is among the highest for small liberal arts undergraduate colleges in the region.

“As a community, it is vitally important that we remain focused on issues of diversity and inclusion. We cannot be lulled into complacency because there are not tragic and sad events dominating our daily newsfeed,” Jones said. “It is precisely in these times between the divisive headlines about prejudice, injustice and intolerance when we can come together as a community and find understanding, create common ground, increase empathy and generate goodwill.”

In the College’s current strategic plan, Thiel 2021: Student Success, several diversity and inclusion initiatives were created, including:

• Jones’ appointment to lead diversity and inclusion efforts as well as multicultural affairs at Thiel;
• The launching of a year-long yearlong interfaith series which featured a Muslim chaplain, a Christian ethicist, Bishop Emeritus of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, a Buddhist monk and a Commencement address by an Amish and Mennonite scholar;
• The introduction of a Courageous Conversations speaker series, which has connected members of the Thiel Community to various speakers discussing a wide array of diversity topics;
• The awarding Martin Luther King Jr. awards for achievement in diversity and in recognition of community members, alumni and employees who exhibit the ideals of Martin Luther King Jr.

The Office for Diversity and Inclusion has been active during a challenging semester, too.

Following George Floyd’s death in May, the College hosted an online summit for students and employees to talk about how to deal with his death and the ensuing violence that was occurring around the country. Following that summit, the College’s diversity web page was updated to include additional resources for students dealing with racism and information on being an ally for minority and under-represented populations. The campus community also came together in August to host a socially-distanced rally held in conjunction with the virtual March in Washington.

In the spring of 2019, employee reading groups discussed diversity and inclusion at the College.

The reading groups discussed readings that involved a wide range of topics related to the concepts of diversity and inclusion, such as race, sex and gender, religion and free speech as they pertain to the community at Thiel College.

Also, as part of the focus on diversity and civility, the College sent a team of faculty representatives to the 2019 Institute for Diversity, Civility, and the Liberal Arts. The institute focused on establishing plans that will give Thiel College faculty, staff and administrators strategies to improve diversity and civility among members of the College community.  The Institute for Diversity, Civility, and the Liberal Arts focused on expanding students’ understandings of social issues that occur on campuses.

Based in the Lutheran tradition, Thiel, founded in 1866 as a co-educational institution, has a long history of tolerance and acceptance of students from all backgrounds. In 1910, the historian, civil rights activist and author W.E.B. Du Bois published a survey of American higher education institutions that included Thiel College’s response, “Should any apply for admission they would be welcome,” to the query if the institution would accept black students.

Related Links

• Office for Diversity and Inclusion
• Office for Multicultural Student Affairs
• Office for International Students Affairs

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