Students come to the University of Connecticut at a critical stage in their development, a time during which they define themselves in relation to others and experiment with different identities, relationships, and values before making permanent commitments to jobs, friends, and intimate personal relationships. Consequently, it is critical that we expose our students both within and outside the classroom to new ideas, cultures and experiences.

In addition to aggressively improving the demographic diversity of our students, faculty, and staff, we continue to implement requirements and initiatives to foster a diverse academic experience for our students. Some of our campus efforts related to academic diversity include and are not limited to:

• Requiring that each student fulfill a (6 Hour) General Education Diversity Distribution requirement;
  
• Creating a curriculum that incorporates diverse social and cultural perspectives in numerous course offerings;
  
• Supporting faculty research in more than 65 countries, and in a wide range of disciplines from math to music to metallurgy;
  
• Encouraging UConn students to take a global view and participate in Study Abroad initiatives with nearly 30 other countries;
  
• Fostering formal relationships with 17 different countries, allowing for the exchange of students and knowledge.
  
• Offering majors in ethnic studies areas such as African American Studies, Asian American Studies, etc., and minors in Human Rights and other multicultural, international, and social justice areas.
  
• Exploring new and cutting edge approaches to cross cultural interactions such as intergroup dialogue programs and other leadership development activities;
  
• Launching new approaches to academic enhancement and retention that support racial and ethnic identity in ways that help students have a satisfying campus experience;
  
• And fostering numerous localized diversity, leadership, retention, outreach, and academic success programs in the various Schools, Colleges, and Units that compose our University.

  By accomplishing these initiatives and others, we hope to foster leadership skills that will prepare students to move into fulfilling careers in all areas of life.