This session will focus on information that came out of two of AAC&U's initiatives: Making Excellence Inclusive (sm) (MEI--funded by the Ford Foundation) and the Campus Diversity Initiative (CDI--funded by the James Irvine Foundation). MEI produced three commissioned reports which synthesized the research on the benefits and of diversity for students, scholarship and institutions and ways to achieve educational equity. Subsequent work with campuses has focused on developing the institutional leadership, capacity and action to ensure that all students achieve at high levels. One aspect of the CDI examined readily available data from twenty-seven colleges and universities to analyze their efforts to enhance faculty racial/ethnic diversity between 2000 and 2004. The CDI findings suggest that despite relative success in hiring underrepresented minority (URM) faculty, turnover was a critical factor contributing to a lack of substantial advancement for URM faculty. Clayton-Pedersen will discuss practical ways to apply the studies' findings to KSU's context. She will involve faculty, administrators, students and staff in a conversation to: a) consider how best to use existing data to assess diversity efforts; b) reflect on the numerous factors within their control that can contribute to successful recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority faculty, students and staff; and c) spark and continue rich dialogue about the status of diversity, equity, and inclusion at KSU in light of the global twenty first century's social challenges.