Ken Coopwood, Ph.D., is on a mission to foster diversity at Missouri State University and in the community at large, and his efforts are welcome, given that the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce has identified diversity as an ongoing priority.
Hired in October 2011 as MSU’s first permanent vice president for diversity and inclusion, Coopwood previously was director of diversity programming at Indiana University Northwest.
He says his initial impression of the Ozarks is that there’s enormous potential for increasing diversity.
At MSU, Coopwood is an adviser on diversity-related issues, and he is working on what he calls the paradigms of inclusion – intervention, research, pedagogy and cultural competence – to help the school set an example in including others.
Coopwood says the concept of racism is intrinsically tied to education, and he considers himself in a key position to continue Springfield’s paradigm shift from exclusion to inclusion.
“People are educated to believe that in order to survive or have the best things in life, they must necessarily diminish, demolish or decrease the presence of people who are different from them or things that are different from their values or beliefs,” he says.
“We generationally miseducate each other by instilling values and beliefs that are exclusive by nature and by intent,” he says. “By the time a person … becomes an adult, all he or she knows as a means for survival is to withhold, withdraw and retreat to what is comfortable.”
Since coming to town, he’s met with representatives of businesses, the chamber and organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to talk about diversity.
“I want to listen first to absorb the values and beliefs of the people so I can learn better how to meet people where they are and … provide enough comfort and leadership to help them move (ahead),” Coopwood says.
Coopwood notes that business leaders who don’t recognize the importance of diversity risk losing market share to companies that do.
“It’s more than just a touchy-feely thing to do,” Coopwood says. “It’s a way of business. It’s a way of global connectivity, and it’s a way of building capacity to serve an increasingly diverse clientele.”[[In-content Ad]]
