UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Office of Educational Assessment
Program Evaluation Division

EVALUATION OF UW DIVERSITY OUTREACH AND RECRUITMENT
This site has been created to provide regularly updated reports on evaluative efforts by the Office of Educational Assessment (OEA) relative to centrally administered diversity outreach and recruitment activities at the University of Washington (UW).
May 15, 2001

INITIATIVES

DIVERSITY WEBSITE
The UW Diversity website is featured prominently on the University of Washington (UW) homepage and provides direct access to information and resources relative to the University's diversity outreach efforts.

STUDENT AMBASSADORS
UW undergraduate students establish relationships with elementary and secondary students from throughout Washington State, advocate for on-campus UW minority student organizations, and plan and implement cultural events for the greater University community.

EMPOWER
Designed to better prepare minority students for the UW, the Empower Program provides activities and campus visits for high school students and their parents to help them make personal connections on campus and explore the University's various programs.

ADMITTED STUDENTS QUESTIONNAIRE
The Admitted Student Questionnaire is published by the College Board and used by colleges and universities throughout the United States to poll their admitted students (both enrolled and non-enrolled) regarding the most influential factors in choosing an institution of higher education.

SHAPING YOUR FUTURE
Each spring, newly admitted minority students and their parents are invited to a half-day campus visit at the UW. Shaping Your Future assists in the transition from high school by giving students and their parents the opportunity to interact with current students, gain information on a variety of majors, and expand their knowledge of UW resources supporting student learning.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH
The Assistant Director of Admissions for Student Outreach and Community Relations has been hired to provide a bridge to higher education for minority students by informing parents and community members about college entrance requirements, financial aid and UW programs.

SITE COUNSELORS IN THE SCHOOLS
UW academic counselors have been placed in Washington State high schools to make classroom presentations, give workshops concerning college applications, and to provide one-on-one counseling for students, particularly those potentially qualified for admission to the UW.

ADMISSIONS AND OUTREACH COORDINATORS
Two coordinators have been placed in central and southeastern Washington to initiate and carry out UW outreach efforts at local high schools.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE CONNECTION
In Spring, 2001, the UW hosted a class from a local community college to allow the students to have first-hand experience at the Seattle campus.

UW Commitment

The University of Washington (UW) has a long-standing commitment to racial and cultural diversity in its student body. This commitment was most recently expressed in the January 1998 Regents’ Statement on Diversity following similar affirmations in 1973 and 1979.

Central to UW diversity efforts for many years has been the inclusion of race as a factor in admissions decisions. However, following the passage of Initiative 200 in November 1998, state-funded postsecondary institutions have been prohibited from granting preferential treatment to any person on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin. While the UW has consequently removed race from consideration in admissions decisions, it has retained and expanded programs targeted at outreach and recruitment of underrepresented minorities.


Programs and Initiatives

Many outreach programs operate under the oversight of the President’s Advisory Committee on Diversity. In forming the Committee in January 1999, President Richard L. McCormick noted that "The recent passage of Initiative 200 has deprived us of a tool that has been useful in promoting diversity for decades. Yet the goal remains as important as ever, and it is far from being achieved." He invited the Committee "to think deeply and creatively about the kind of academic community we want to have in the twenty-first century and what we can do to make that vision a reality," and asked members to "re-imagine the work of maintaining and extending diversity at the University and to advise him and the campus community on how to do that."


Effectiveness

To ensure that programs initiated or expanded by the Committee are successful and that funds directed to diversity efforts are expended effectively, the Committee has asked the UW Office of Educational Assessment (OEA) to provide formative feedback to managers and directors of the various initiatives, and to report evidence of attainment of the dual goals:

  • to affect the composition of incoming freshman classes in the immediate future, and
     
  • to expand the pool of underrepresented youths who will be prepared to compete for admission to the universities and colleges of their choice in years to come.

This page provides links to evaluation summaries related to the various projects as they are available.

Copyright© 2001 UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON Office of Educational Assessment