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06-25-04
By Mark Floyd, 541-737-0788
SOURCE: Ed Ray, 541-737-4133
CORVALLIS - A Seattle-area educator and consultant who has been a Northwest leader in diversity education has been selected as Oregon State University's first director for Community and Diversity.
 Terryl Ross Click on image to go to downloadable photo |
Ross is founder and president of MOSAIC, the Multicultural Organization of Students Actively Involved in Change at the University of Washington, where he has been honored with special awards from the UW president and the university's alumni association. As leader of MOSAIC during the last 10 years, he developed and led an annual diversity summit in Seattle, conducted a diversity audit for UW, and was credited with bringing together different student groups to advance diversity goals. He also served as multicultural services coordinator at Green River Community College from 2002-04.
Ross will be OSU's first director of Community and Diversity. For a number of years, Oregon State has worked to increase campus diversity and diversity education, establishing a Board of Visitors for Minority Affairs, signing a lifetime pact with student cultural centers, creating Minority Education Offices, and adding diversity requirements for all students, among other initiatives.
When long-time Multicultural Affairs director Phyllis Lee retired last year, the university restructured that position to create a cabinet-level director to lead its community and diversity efforts. Ross will report directly to OSU President Ed Ray.
"I take issues of inclusion and diversity very seriously," said Ray, who led a number of diversity initiatives as provost at The Ohio State University. "It is one of my passions. Institutions of higher education have the responsibility to provide educational opportunities to people of all backgrounds, to bring together students and faculty with different experiences and perspectives to create the richest possible learning environment, and to reach out to different communities - not only to provide our services, but also to listen to needs and concerns and contribute to solutions.
"Terryl Ross has the experience, the skills, the motivation and the temperament to help us achieve our goals," Ray added.
Ross has a Ph.D. in educational communication and technology from the University of Washington, and a master's in public relations from Syracuse University. He earned his bachelor's degree in government from Eastern Washington University, where he served as student body president.