Evie Myers, NDSU vice president for equity, diversity and global outreach, and Deland Myers, professor of cereal and food science in the Department of Plant Sciences, NCAA faculty athletic representative and director of academic diversity recruitment, were selected to present a paper at the 2014 NCAA Inclusion Forum in Orlando, Florida, May 1-3.
The submitted paper was titled “The Partnership of NCAA Athletics and Academics to Increase Diversity on the Campus of North Dakota State University.”
“We are honored to be selected to present our paper on the efforts of how academics and athletics have worked together here at NDSU to establish collaborations with historically black colleges and universities and other institutions to increase our diversity efforts on campus and provide opportunities for underrepresented students to learn and pursue opportunities in post-graduate education,” Deland Myers said, noting the paper is “further evidence of the efforts here at NDSU to be inclusive and visionary in our efforts to be a Research I, land-grant, student-focused university.”
During the presentation, they outlined collaborations with Mississippi Valley State University, Prairie View A&M University, Delaware State University and Morgan State University. They also discussed efforts with Northern Arizona University, which has significant Hispanic and Native American student populations and other institutions, including Virginia State University, Bowie State University and Alabama A&M University.
The collaborations include a summer internship program to give underrepresented minority students majoring in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, known as STEM, an opportunity to work on research projects and to learn about opportunities for graduate research-based degrees. The visiting students often come from institutions that compete against Bison athletic teams.
The effort started in summer 2008, with 10 students from Mississippi Valley State University. By 2013, it included 12 students from Prairie View A&M, Delaware State University, Bowie State University, Alabama A&M University, Virginia State University, Morgan State University and Turtle Mountain Community College.
“NDSU, through programming activities, provides enhanced opportunities academically and culturally for people of diverse cultures and backgrounds by combining NCAA athletics and academics,” Deland Myers said. “More importantly, the presence of these students on our campus has enriched the many people they have touched.”
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.