Celebrating and honoring the multiethnic, intercultural, and interfaith manifestations of Christian faith in general and of Presbyterianism and the Wesleyan ethos is a huge concern of our seminary as we are located in the Mid-west in a small city (Dubuque, Iowa) that is predominately caucasian and Catholic. Dubuque and the 7-county region around Dubuque has had a population base of 230,236 , with the following demographic breakdown: 93.4% White, 2.19% Black, 1.89% Hispanic, 1.19% two or more race, 0.99% Asian, and 0.29% American or Alaska Native
Our Seminary faculty and student body demographics reveal a far more ethnically (and cultural geographic) diverse community than many of our residential students have ever lived in before. In addition, the Seminary inhabits the same campus, uses the same building space, and the same food service as the undergraduate side of the University of Dubuque with over 2000 students. The UD/UDTS campus is the most diverse space in a 60-mile radius of Dubuque. 40% of UD’s student body are people of non-white ethnicity: 26% Black/African, 12% Hispanic/Latino, and 2% various other ethnicities, including Asian, Native American and Native Hawaiian. Students come to UD from over 30 different states and 16 different countries. In fact, the UD/UDTS campus is the fifth most diverse college campus in all of Iowa (See https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/most-diverse-colleges/s/iowa/.). The majority our UM seminary students find themselves inhabiting a space and a community on the UD/UDTS campus that is far more diverse than the communities and churches they have come from in the upper mid-West and more diverse than the UM congregations and communities they will serve after the graduate.
In addition, celebrating and honoring the multiethnic, intercultural, and interfaith manifestations of Christian faith is deeply embedded in the goals of President Bullock’s Diversity, Inclusion and Hospitality Task Force: “Goal # 1- Recognizing that our diversity is a gift from God, and develop comprehensive strategies for attracting and retaining diverse students, faculty, staff, and Board members.” See the attached document file, President’s Diversity, Inclusion, and Hospitality Task Force Goals.