BLOOMFIELD COLLEGE RANKS SIXTH IN CAMPUS DIVERSITY
August 25, 2003,
Bloomfield, NJ -- Bloomfield College ranked sixth in campus diversity among
Northern Comprehensive Colleges according to U.S. News & World Report’s
2004 higher education rankings released recently.
The rankings are part of the September 1, 2003 issue of U.S. News & World Report, available online at www.usnews.com. The rankings factor in the total proportion of minority students – leaving out international students – and the overall mix of groups. The data are drawn from the 2002-2003 student body.
For more than 130 years, Bloomfield College has provided educational opportunity to immigrants and their children in support of its unique mission – to prepare students to attain academic, personal and professional excellence in a multicultural and global society. With students born in more than 50 countries, the College draws on the richness of the northern New Jersey region’s international character.
Two-thirds of the College’s 1,900 students are minorities, half are over 25, and nearly 70 percent are women. Twenty-one percent of the faculty are African-American, African-Caribbean, Hispanic, or Asian.
As a liberal arts college that emphasizes pre-professional education, Bloomfield College strives to instill a passion for learning, set standards for excellence and promote a commitment to serving the community. Its unique mission means that the College pays particular attention to fostering the attitudes and skills one needs to thrive in a multicultural and global society. Students learn the basic tenets of Western civilization while also exploring the richness of Eastern and African cultures.
Faculty are active participants in their disciplines’ regional and national dialogues, especially where the emphasis is on learning and teaching, on retention, and on diversity. Of great interest to the faculty in recent years are transculturalism and immigration. In the past 10 years, faculty, staff and students have provided counsel on the implementation of the mission to hundreds of colleges and universities throughout the country. Bloomfield College is widely acknowledged as a leader in working to reduce the impacts of racism on student learning and in using diversity to foster the aims of liberal education.
Recently, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation awarded Bloomfield College a major grant through the Council of Independent Colleges in support of its Urban Missions project. Bloomfield is one of only eight colleges nationwide to receive this grant. In 2002, the College was awarded a Bildner New Jersey Campus Diversity Grant to help create college graduates who are better informed about America’s multicultural mosaic.
Bloomfield College recently introduced a Diversity Training Certificate
Program. The five-course program is designed for individuals and employers
who wish to study diversity issues in-depth. The program covers
cross-cultural and multicultural psychology as well as sociology and group
dynamics.
