By Kristine Milbrandt

Wartburg College will receive one of the first-ever Greater Cedar Valley Alliance and Chamber Diversity and Inclusion awards.

Wartburg will be presented with the award honoring a medium-sized business or organization that best represents diversity and inclusion in the Cedar Valley at the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance and Chamber’s annual dinner March 7 in Waterloo. This is the first year for the award, which will be presented to small, medium and large organizations.

Gloria Campbell, associate professor of business administration, spearheaded the nomination effort.

“I’m really proud that the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance has initiated this award,” Campbell said. “I pushed for the college to apply because I knew that the process would help us identify both our strengths and the gaps we need to address.”

Applicants were required to detail diversity and inclusion successes and strategies, training and community-relations initiatives.

Wartburg cited such organizations as the Wartburg Alliance (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students and allies), International Club, Black Student Union, and the Sexual Misconduct and Assault Research Team (SMART). 

Activities and events included interfaith chapels, GAYLA Week (LGBT students), Culture Week with international students, V-Week (focusing on stemming violence against women) with the “Vagina Monologues,” the Martin Luther King Jr. Week community service projects and national service trips throughout the academic year.

Wartburg’s enrollment of 143 international students represents nearly 8 percent of the student body, one of the highest percentages among Iowa private colleges.

“I am very honored to be a member of the Wartburg community because of our vision and our commitment to diversity,” said Krystal Madlock, director of student diversity programs. “I believe people are surprised by the diversity we have on campus. The percentage of American-ethnic and international students we have is outstanding, especially for a small liberal arts school in small-town Iowa.”

Wartburg’s emphasis on diversity attacted Dr. Deborah Loers, vice president for student life and dean of students, to the school six years ago. 

“I saw there was a very long commitment to helping educate students to live in a diverse world,” Loers said. “That commitment is played out in a diversity course required of all students and in many other courses that emphasize diversity in the world — in the workplace, in world religions and in service-learning opportunities.” 

Whether Wartburg students are from small towns or major metropolitan areas, she said they all need to learn and practice inclusion.

 “We may not grow up having the most exposure to differences in others — race, religion, disabilities, sexual orientation,” Loers said. “But as we move out into the world, it is clear that is the world we’re working in.”

The college holds workshops about living in a diverse world, according to Jane Juchems, human resources director.

“Wartburg has been committed to offering on-campus professional development opportunities for students, faculty and staff, including workshops that have explored ‘rules’ to navigate cultures and communication styles, having dialogues and finding common ground,” she said. 

Campbell said the college will not rest on the laurels of the Diversity and Inclusion award.

“Winning this award makes it clearer to potential college hires and prospective students that we value diversity,” Campbell said. “Yet we need to continue our commitment to become more inclusive.”