By Darla Martin Tucker

U.S. News and World Report today announced that La Sierra University is first among universities in 15 western states for its racially diverse student population. The recognition marks the fifth consecutive year that La Sierra has led the West in the magazine’s rankings for the most diverse institutions offering a range of undergraduate and masters programs.

On a racial diversity index that ranged from 0.0 to 1.0, La Sierra scored 0.72, tying with The City University of New York-Baruch College and CUNY-City College in the North. It also tied with the University of Houston for second place among four-year institutions nationwide offering undergraduate, masters and doctoral degrees. Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, secured the top spot for most diverse national institution in America with a score of 0.74.

The Washington D.C.-based news magazine, in its annual America’s Best Colleges report, rates higher educational institutions around the country on various matters including diversity. In its America’s Best Colleges 2009 report, U.S. News examined 1,400 colleges and universities and separated them into the following categories: National Universities, which are schools with a broad range of undergraduate majors, masters programs, doctoral programs and research; Masters Universities, schools with a full range of primarily undergraduate and masters programs; Baccalaureate Colleges; and Liberal Arts Colleges.

Institutions in the Masters Universities and Baccalaureate Colleges categories are divided into North, South, Midwest and West segments. La Sierra placed first in the West for masters’ universities. La Sierra’s sister institution, Pacific Union College in Angwin, Calif., topped the West category in Baccalaureate Colleges for most diverse college. La Sierra University and Pacific Union College are owned by the Seventh-day Adventist denomination.

To determine racial diversity, U.S. News factored in the proportion of minority students, leaving out international students, and the overall mix of groups in each institution’s 2007-08 student body, the magazine said. The magazine used the following racial categories in its calculations: American Indians and Native Alaskans (Native Americans), Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, African-Americans who are non-Hispanic, whites who are non-Hispanic, and Hispanics.

La Sierra’s ethnic and racial mix can be attributed to the diversity of the region and of its principal constituency, said La Sierra University Provost Warren Trenchard. Such an assortment of cultures and backgrounds affords La Sierra’s students “…a microcosm of the real world,” he said. La Sierra’s diversity “is reflected not only in the makeup of the student body and the composition of the faculty, but in the design of the curriculum,” he said.

For example, the University Studies program offers such courses as “Childhood in Global Perspective” and “The Experience of Religion in Three Cultures.” The university’s Global Studies program, which graduated its first class in June, prepares students for international service-oriented careers through studies on particular cultures and analysis of global relations. The Honors Program offers international travel and study and courses that examine various worldviews.

La Sierra’s overall student body composition for the 2007 fall term was roughly one-quarter Caucasian, one-quarter Hispanic and one-quarter Asian, with the remainder a mix of ethnicities and races. Its commitment to diversity is recognized in its mission statement and is embedded in its seal. Additionally, the institution’s aims state, “Believing that all humanity is created in the image of God, the university celebrates the diversity of its students, faculty and staff with regard to race, national origin, gender, and age. The university recognizes this diversity as a valuable asset in the preparation of all its students for positions of service and leadership in the professions, in business, in government, in the civic community, and in the church.”

“Quite clearly we are extremely pleased to not only be recognized as a highly diverse campus, but in fact to be a highly diverse campus,” Trenchard said.

“The challenge for us now is to be more intentional about our diversity, to use our diversity in creative and sensitive ways for the enhancement of the student experience and the outworking of the university’s mission,” he said.

PR Contact: Larry Becker
Executive Director of University Relations
La Sierra University
Riverside, California
951.785.2460 (voice)