By Liam Farrell ’04
Senior Alumni Editor

Following recommendations from the grassroots efforts of committed minority alumni, the Notre Dame Alumni Association has created a new Alumni Diversity Council to more effectively engage, recruit, and support the University’s ethnically diverse students and graduates.

This council will build on the historic work of the Minority Alumni Network (MAN), which consists of Asian-Pacific Alumni, Black Alumni, Hispanic Alumni, and Native American Alumni. A year-long review process among those organizations started the Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity that recommended the new council.

“This self-initiated effort looked to build upon the individual MAN groups’ strengths and successes, to examine how by working together, we can more effectively fulfill the mission,” said Michael Wong ’96, a former president of the NDAA Board of Directors who helped lead the committee. “Nothing was ‘broken’ with the old model, but the leaders of each of the MAN groups agreed there was room for improvement.”

Wong said the committee’s recommendations were endorsed by everyone involved.

“To receive the support of all of those passionate Domers speaks to the process and hard work of the committee,” he said. “Under this new structure, the Diversity Council is well positioned to address the evolving needs of our growing constituents.”

The Alumni Diversity Council will be a nine-member board, with one representative from each minority group and five selected at-large. This will enable the individual organizations to maintain their unique identities while simultaneously providing a focused voice on diversity issues as a whole.

The council will be a place to share best practices, streamline efforts to achieve Notre Dame’s vision on diversity, and more effectively support departments across campus, including admissions, financial aid, and academic colleges.

“We are proud to have partnered with our alumni to create what promises to be a true asset in furthering Notre Dame’s diversity,” said Dolly Duffy ’84, the NDAA’s executive director. “This is another step in making sure we live up to the University’s goals and values, and that we always strive to be a ‘Notre Dame family’.