The Department of Educational Leadership designs, implements, and evaluates curriculum and experiences for candidates to acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to help students learn about and experience diversity. These experiences include working with diverse higher education and school faculty, diverse candidates, and diverse students in P-12.

All of the degrees offered in the P-12 graduate program of Educational Leadership at UND, have a broad based diversity component which features service to diverse populations of students and a diverse faculty that represents multiple races, ages, genders, and ethnicities. Faculty members include representation from the United Kingdom, Canada, Bulgaria, and the United States. There is an equal distribution of gender within the P-12 faculty. Two members of the faculty were raised on Native American Indian Reservations in the state of North Dakota and two of the faculty members are currently visiting and doing research in countries such as Bulgaria, Croatia, and Moldova.

Curriculum requirements in educational leadership programs include field experiences and internships often featuring introductory experience with minorities and on Indian Reservations. The department features a unique grant which hosts Native American Students who are being prepared for administrative service to minorities. Over recent years over 20 Native American Students have been prepared and are serving schools in the region.

Students are recruited to the program by sending letters out to each of the principals at North Dakota Reservation Schools explaining the UT-Plains project. They are asked to provide names, and contact information of any candidates that they would recommend for the UND Leadership program. They are also asked to post the program in local media sources, teacher mailboxes, and to distribute recruiting letters.

Letters are also sent directly to individuals of Native American origin who work outside the reservation parameters (approximately 47 letters were sent for the 06-07 and 07-08 cohorts.) Advertisement is also placed in the UND Native American Center and in their newsletters. Recruiting is also done in conjunction with United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota.

A link to the UT-Plains program is on the Educational Leadership website, giving all the information on the program, as well as applications and deadlines. An information/discussion panel was hosted at the North Dakota Indian Education Associations convention in Bismarck in the fall of '07. Members of former cohorts sat on the panel, told their UND stories, and encouraged others to take part. Then they answered questions about the program. Word of mouth advertising was also used extensively.

Students from Germany, Tibet, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Canada, India, and Norway have recently taken part in the programs of the Educational Leadership Department. Blacks, Whites, Orientals, and other groups have taken part in educational leadership. With the variety of ethnicity, it is common practice to feature food, introductions, and sharing sessions to facilitate sensitivity, tolerance, and acceptance of all kinds of people.

Students are encouraged to "tailor" assignments to particular schools, locations, or issues. An example would be in finance classes, Native American students do projects on BIA funding, ISEP funding, grant funding, and Impact aid. Other classes feature the interviewing of administrators and school board members from minority settings and with minority representatives who exemplify leadership excellence. We are most proud that a strong majority of the Native American Colleges in the region feature UND Educational Leadership graduates who are serving as their present or past Presidents. One such person was honored in the winter of '08.

Recommendations are often written for diversity scholarships and diversity activities are included in a variety of classes. Soaring Eagle Prairie activities, presentations at T&L Multi-cultural classes are provided, diversity week activities are featured, Native American powwows, picnics, celebrations, and movies at the Native American Center are also accessed by staff and students. Tours of Native American Colleges have also been a feature of our classes.

Our department's professors consult with diverse populations and do service on reservations, in foreign countries related to culture, democracy, and special education. Examples of these diversity contributions include school improvement visitations to Turtle Mountain Community School District and to Warwick School District , Breaking Ranks presentations at Turtle Mountain and construction reviews for Ft. Berthold . Articles have also appeared in the UND Native American Bulletin and one professor was honored for her work with Native Americans. Other consulting opportunities have included Dunseith, Turtle Mountain, Fort Totten, and New Town.

Educational Finance, The Principalship, Community Relations, Law, Leadership, Planning, and Organizational Behavior are just a few of the courses which feature diversity ventures for students and staff. The department also teaches and discusses 8 areas of diversity ranging from age, socio-economic status, ethnicity, gender, race, sexual orientation, the disabled, English as a Second Language, and 504 discrimination. It is our department's goal to have awareness of and practice the value of diversity.

In short, the Department of Educational Leadership at UND is clear about the proficiencies related to diversity that candidates should develop during their preparation program; the curriculum and field experiences are designed to prepare candidates to work with diverse populations, including persons with exceptionalities; candidates have an understanding of the importance of diversity in teaching and learning; candidates are developing skills for incorporating diversity into their leadership and are able to establish a school climate that values diversity; and assessments of candidate proficiencies provide data on the candidate's ability to help all students learn. In addition to all this, the department continues efforts to increase the diversity of its candidates and faculty.