Cottey opens the door on diversity project

Cottey College's Lumina Foundation Diversity Project officially kicked off this week, with a visit from Dr. Gladys Brown, consultant and a dinner bringing local leaders with concerns about diversity to the table on Monday night.

More than just an academic search for what diversity is, Cottey is seeking to work with others in the community to determine what their needs are in developing resources for underrepresented segments of the population, and what developments are occuring in terms of other local projects involving persons from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and races.

At the table were representatives from the Nevada R-5 school district, Nevada Regional Medical Center, Cottey's diversity project, Fort Scott Community College, and the Nevada Daily Mail and Herald-Tribune.

A consensus appeared to develop that diversity is one key to growth. Indeed, it's an effort to grow that, in part, has developed into Cottey's diversity project. Thinking big -- as Cottey College President Dr. Judy Rogers put it, using "big" words like "national" and "growth" -- led to this path in that the national grant from the Lumina Foundation was sought and secured.

Rogers said that a strategic plan for Cottey College to be considered by the board calls for growth in student population. She makes an educated guess that, given the colleges strong draw for students in the states of Missouri, Texas and California, it's likely that many of those prospective students could be hispanic or black, for example, bringing into focus the need to identify and foster related resources.

Many such resources are already in place; but community members admit there's more room for growth; language, for one, can sometimes be a barrier that community members said must sometimes be addressed in order to serve diverse groups; but one way of promoting diversity is through events and special projects.

At Fort Scott Community College, for example, a project is under way that will celebrate the lifetime works of Gordon Parks, a black native of Fort Scott. He's a nationally-known photojournalist, poet and filmmaker -- and a national fund-raising effort calls attention to the power of embracing diverse populations in bringing communities into the national spotlight.

On March 1, Cottey College will host a presentation by Paxton Williams, who portrays George Washington Carver, in a special event open to the public, held at the Haidee and Allen Wild Center for the Arts, at Austin and Tower in Nevada.

Williams presents a one-man show depicting the noted scientist and humanitarian, who was born into slavery near Diamond, Mo. Set in 1942, the play presents Carver reminiscing from the vantage of nearly 80 years of accomplishments, going beyond Carver's more than 300 uses of the peanut to express Carver's service to humanity.

As a bonus, Nevada High School art students, under the direction of teacher Kelly Gray, will exhibit art in the lobby of the Center for the Arts on the night of the show. Student art displayed represents work celebrating Black History Month and the works of George Washington Carver, who was himself a national prizewinning artist.

Throughout the course of Cottey's diversity project, five consultants will visit the community; and another community presentation will be planned in the fall; however, details on that event are not yet available.