University President V. Lane Rawlins has announced the establishment of a Commission on Race and Ethnicity at Washington State University and called for nominations of faculty, students and staff to serve on the commission.
The major functions of the commission will be to:
• Serve as a forum for communicating concerns, issues, ideas and proposals related to minority affairs to the university president, provost, vice president for Student Affairs, vice provost for Equity and Diversity, and other executive officers;
• Advise the president, provost, vice president for Student Affairs, vice provost for Equity and Diversity, and other executive officers on matters related to the advancement of faculty, staff and students of color;
• Assist in the development and implementation of projects, programs and procedures to increase opportunities for professional and personal success of people of color at WSU.
To facilitate these processes, the commission will:
• Hold public meetings on campus during the fall and spring semesters; • Monitor implementation of such programs and provide feedback on their effectiveness to the president, appropriate executive officers and the university community.
The commission will consist of 11 members with the following distribution: two undergraduate students, two graduate or professional students, one A/P employee, one classified staff member, two faculty members, one dean, one representative of the Pullman business community, one representative of the Pullman school system.
Student members will serve one-year terms with the option of a second year. All other terms will be for three years. The commission will elect a chair from the membership. In addition, the vice provost for Equity and Divers
ity and the vice president for Student Affairs will be ex officio members.All WSU Pullman faculty, staff and students are eligible to serve on the commission. Similar groups are being established at WSU’s urban campuses and will report to the respective chancellors.
People can nominate colleagues to serve on the commission in a variety of ways. All nominations should include a brief biography noting the candidate’s qualifications for service on the commission. Individuals may nominate themselves for any of the positions on the commission.
• Faculty nominations, including self-nominations, can be sent to Tom Brigham, executive secretary of the Faculty Senate. The Faculty Senate will select three candidates to be forwarded to the president.
• A/P nominations should be sent to Elissa Keim, A/P Council chair, and the A/P Council will forward two nominees to the president.
• Classified staff members may send nominations to Kathylu Szabo, president of the local union federation.
• Graduate and professional students nominations should be submitted to Lisa Williams, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Association.
• Undergraduate representative nominations can be submitted to either Brian
Chu, chair of the Council of Multicultural Student Presidents, or Jesse Aspuria, president of the Associated Students of WSU.
Nominations are due at the respective organizations by April 12, and candidates must be forwarded to the president by April 19. He will then announce his appointments to the commission by the end of the semester.
