Diversity Outreach Proposal

Executive Summary

The University of Arkansas Hispanic and Latino enrollment rates closely represent the

state of Arkansas Hispanic and Latino population. According to the fall 2017 enrollment numbers

8.1% of students are Hispanic/Latino. This is just above the 2016 Arkansas Census numbers,

which show that 7.3% of Arkansas is Hispanic/Latino. However the counties surrounding the

University of Arkansas have more than double the state percentage of Hispanic/Latino citizens.

With this large local Hispanic/Latino representation, the School of Journalism and

Strategic Media is aiming to purposefully recruit Hispanic and Latino students from Washington

and Benton counties in the upcoming years. To achieve this, our campaign will be targeting

Hispanic and Latino students from surrounding high schools, graduating in the classes of 2018

and 2019.

Because we know that a majority these students come from Spanish-speaking homes, the

primary strategy of the campaign will be a bilingual recruitment process. This process will include

strategic recruiting booths at Washington and Benton county high schools, which will be worked

by bilingual representatives and include bilingual signage and information. A monthly bilingual

department tour, followed by an entertaining lecture from a Hispanic/Latino student, graduate

or faculty member, will help students and their families to learn more about the school. Lastly, a

bilingual social media campaign will be put in place. All of these will move to increase local

Hispanic/Latino enrollment by fall 2019.

Situation Analysis
 The Hispanic and Latino population in Washington and Benton counties currently greatly

above the Arkansas state average. In July 2016, the Arkansas state census bureau reported that

7.3% of the states population is made up of Hispanic and Latino people. In fall 2017, the

university reported that 8.1% of its enrolled students were Hispanic and Latino. While the

University of Arkansas enrollment numbers closely represent the state percentages, the

counties surrounding the University are made up of a much larger Hispanic and Latino

population. Both Washington and Benton counties reported that 16.4% of their populations are

composed of Hispanic and Latino people, in July 2016. The University of Arkansas School of

Journalism and Strategic Media should aim its recruiting efforts at expanding campus

representation of this minority group, which is already present in the Northwest Arkansas area.

Objectives

The objective of this campaign is to purposefully recruit incoming Hispanic and Latino

students from Washington and Benton counties to the School of Journalism and Strategic Media

at the University of Arkansas. The goal of the campaign is to see a 1.9% increase in enrolled

Hispanic and Latino students, by fall 2019. This would bring the total enrollment of Hispanic and

Latino students to 10%.

Target Audience

The target audience for this campaign is upperclassmen (juniors graduating in 2019 and

seniors graduating in 2018) of Hispanic and Latino decent, from Washington and Benton county

high schools. Each county has 10 high schools to be targeted. Out of those 20 high schools, the

campaign will focus a majority of their efforts on the six from the largest towns: Rogers High
School, Rogers Heritage High School, Bentonville High School, Fayetteville High School,

Springdale High School and Springdale Har-Ber High School.

Strategies and Tactics

The general strategy to reaching the Hispanic and Latino population is by closing the

language barrier. Many of these students come from homes that speak primarily Spanish and are

native Spanish speakers themselves. Using bilingual campaign tactics will make not only the

students, but also their families, feel comfortable during the college selection process.

One of the tactics that will build this strategy will be hosting monthly bilingual campus

visits. Similar to the United States military tables that are often set up in high schools to recruit

students, the Journalism School will have recruiting tables that will visit each of the main six high

schools monthly, while visiting all 20 high schools at least once a semester. These tables will

serve as informational booths and will be manned by bilingual representatives and have signage,

informational brochures and scholarship application information in both English and Spanish.

Here is where the school will promote the following two tactics.

The Journalism school will begin offering bilingual tours and career days one Saturday

each month. This program will allow students and their parents to tour the department and hear

from past Hispanic/Latino graduates and current Hispanic/Latino faculty, about their experiences

with the Journalism school.

The school will also implement a bilingual social media campaign. All posts on social

media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will be posted with both English and

Spanish captions. The same will go for informational graphics and flyers.

Timetable
 The recruiting campaign will begin January 2018 and continue through May 2019. The

campaign will run for a total of 17 months, to reach junior and senior level students at local high

schools. By the end of this period, the classes of 2018 and 2019 will have graduated and had a

chance to enroll in university.

Evaluation

To determine if the 1.9% increase was met during the duration of the campaign, the

university will evaluate the number of total enrolled Hispanic and Latino students for the fall

2019 semester. During the campaign, the Journalism school should plan to see a 0.7% growth in

the fall 2018 enrollment numbers with the class of 2018, but expect a majority of the growth in

the fall 2019 numbers with a 1.2% increase.