Durand recognized for diversity efforts

Bernice Durand, professor of physics, is being honored for years of leadership in promoting diversity at the university.

Chancellor John Wiley presented Durand with a special recognition award May 7 for her outstanding leadership in the area of campus diversity, a highlight of which has been her instrumental work in developing UW–Madison Plan 2008 and the committee that oversees its implementation.

Along with Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Paul Barrows and Executive Assistant to the Vice Chancellor Ruby Paredes, Durand worked with the university community and the public to research and draft the plan. The plan is a blueprint for attaining the set of diversity goals adopted by the Board of Regents in the systemwide Plan 2008, aimed at boosting the recruitment and retention of minority faculty, staff and students.

Durand was the 1998-2001 co-chair of the Campus Diversity Plan Oversight Committee and its predecessors, the Plan 2008 Steering Committee and Plan 2008 Oversight Committee, which gathered information for, then oversaw the implementation of Plan 2008.

“Bernice was a tireless, well-organized leader during the drafting and implementing of Plan 2008,” Barrows says. “In addition to leadership, her lasting contribution is the creation of the Diversity Plan Oversight Committee as a permanent shared governance committee of the Faculty Senate.”

Durand was also the campus coordinator of the Ethnic Studies requirement when she chaired the College of Letters and Science Curriculum Committee in 1987-89.

Durand, a theoretical physicist who specializes in particle theory and mathematical physics, has recently served in a number of campus leadership roles. She chairs the Athletic Board and was the 1999-2000 chair of the University Committee, the executive committee of the Faculty Senate. She also chaired the search committee for the UW–Madison chancellor in 2000.

In addition, Durand is part of the Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute, which received a $3.75 million grant from the National Science Foundation in January to improve the advancement of women in science and engineering fields.