Kansas Athletics Wins Awards for Diversity
Feb. 23, 2007
The University of Kansas Athletics Department is one of 10 universities nationwide to receive the Overall Excellence in Diversity Award for 2006-07 from the Laboratory for Diversity in Sport at Texas A&M University.
The Diversity in Athletics awards recognize excellence in seven areas: diversity strategy, sex diversity of department employees, racial diversity of department employees, value and attitudinal diversity of department employees, graduation of African American male student athletes, graduation of African American female student athletes, Title IX compliance, and overall excellence in diversity. Kansas Athletics received awards in three of the categories: Overall Excellence, Diversity Strategy and Title IX Compliance.
“Consistent with the mission of the Lab, this Award is aimed at recognizing the I-A athletics departments that excel in the area of diversity,” said George B. Cunningham, Ph.D, of the Laboratory for Diversity in Sport. “These departments are open to all persons, regardless of their demographic characteristics, values, attitudes, or preferences. These persons have access to all positions within the department, including leadership positions. The departments have non-discriminatory policies and regulations. They value their employees and student athletes, and make efforts to treat them fairly and justly. In short, these departments value diversity. We congratulate the recipients of this year’s awards on their exemplary work in the area of diversity.”
Kansas Athletics is one of eight universities to win an award in the Diversity Strategy category. Cunningham said these departments adhere to a proactive strategy find the value in diversity. “There are open lines of communication, flexible work hours, and policies and procedures in place aimed at capitalizing on individual differences.”
Kansas Athletics is one of nine schools to win an award in the Title IX Compliance category. This category was based on the proportion of female athletes relative to the proportion of female undergraduates. Data were gathered from the U.S. Department of Education website.
The scores from the eight categories were summed to arrive at a final excellence in diversity score.
“Diversity and Title IX compliance are two of the cornerstones of our strategic plan here at Kansas Athletics,” said KU Athletics Director Lew Perkins. “By establishing ourselves as a national leader in these areas we can help enhance this University’s commitment to stimulating a multi-cultural environment that nurtures the human potential.”
