By Vanessa Renderman
Features Editor

Purdue president Steven Beering has had to face the issue of diversity on campus, and he has made efforts to make the Purdue faculty more diverse. But it's not at the level where everyone wants it.

"We're not satisfied," said Alysa Rollock, vice president of human relations. "But we are trying. We haven't done as much as we could."

Since Beering started his term, the number of minority faculty members has increased.

In 1983, the total number of minority tenure track faculty was 105. That increased to 220 by 1999, according to numbers from the Affirmative Action Office.

But Beering doesn't even like to use the word "minority" when referring to employees and students because it puts people down by separating people from one another. Everybody needs to be appreciated for their talents, he said.

Robert Ringel, executive vice president of academic affairs, said there are more women on the faculty now than in previous years, particularly in areas that have been difficult to recruit in.

Women have been hired more in the areas of engineering, science, technology and agriculture, Ringel said.

Ringel said the schools of Liberal Arts, Nursing, Family and Consumer Sciences and Education have had no problems recruiting women. He also said there are women in areas who are being underutilized.

Beering said he would like to see people of all different backgrounds working together to create harmony at the University.

Rollock said the University is working to attract a diverse faculty.

"We do take steps to try to increase the pool of qualified applicants," she said. "We have a responsibility to do something about it."

The University conducts national searches and makes contacts with professional organizations to find people to fill faculty positions, she said.

Rollock added, however, that many of the Big Ten universities are also lacking in faculty diversity, and Purdue is in the middle statistically.

"It's not good enough for us to say we looked for faculty but couldn't find any."