GSC Leadership Earns Top National Award

The Graying of Graduate Studies

Diversity Advocate Opens Doors at Ole Miss

A Message from the Dean

Distinctions

Dateline: Oxford

Alumni Notes

Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?

 

Dr. Don Cole

To our graduate students he is known as a friendly, helpful person who is always available for advice and assistance. But Dr. Don Cole, Associate Dean of the Graduate School, has had a long and meaningful association with The University of Mississippi, and he now serves as one of our most prominent and effective advocates for diversity among our students and faculty.

As a young African American enrolled at Ole Miss in the late 1960s, Dr. Cole marched, protested, and gave voice to his generation's concerns and demands. More than 30 years later, Dr. Cole has a different mission: to recruit bright, promising students of all races and nationalities to Ole Miss, to ensure that they leave with advanced degrees that will better their lives, and to make sure that they feel at home while they are here.

The Jackson native arrived at Ole Miss in 1968, following the trail blazed by James Meredith, the University's first African American student. "Ole Miss was known as a fine academic institution, and I wanted the best education I could get," Cole says. "I had been accepted by other major institutions, but there was never any question in my mind. Ole Miss was where I wanted to be."

After he arrived here, he saw that Ole Miss, like many other universities at that time, was not fully supportive of minority students. Though he never saw himself as an activist, he participated in protest marches. After leaving Ole Miss to complete his bachelors degree at Tougaloo College in 1972, he returned to Oxford in 1977 to work on his master's and doctoral degrees, and also because he had a sense of not achieving closure with the institution.

Cole completed his Ph.D. in mathematics at Ole Miss and then took a job in the aerospace industry. But teaching was in his blood, and he joined the faculty at Florida A&M, working his way up to department chair. Then in 1993, the University of Mississippi contacted him about the position of Assistant Dean of the Graduate School. Needless to say, Cole accepted the position, which included the opportunity to teach courses in the Mathematics Department. Since then he has dedicated himself to issues of diversity, opening doors to minorities at all levels, and always serving as a positive force for change.

"I would say that, aside from the chancellor, Don Cole is one of the University's most recognizable individuals in higher education circles," said Dr. Maurice Eftink, acting dean of the Graduate School. "Don is very well known and respected at numerous colleges and universities in the Southeast through his participation in various conferences and through the Minority Outreach Conference, which he hosts on our campus. Don is one of our best ambassadors."

As evidence of his recognition, Dr. Cole was honored in 1999 by the Southern Regional Educational Board, which gave him the "Extra Mile" Award at a meeting in New Orleans. Mississippi Valley State University and Southern University have given him similar awards, and the City of New Orleans has presented him with its "key to the city" for his work in recruiting and graduating minority students.

Cole brought the state's first Ronald E. McNair Achievement Program to Ole Miss. This program assists first-generation students from low-income families with financial aid, mentoring, and other academic and social support mechanisms to help improve the students' chances for success. He is also co-principal investigator with Eftink on a National Science Foundation Minority Graduate Education program, which will be a state-wide effort to enhance the success of minority students in doctoral programs in science, math, and engineering.

But promoting diversity is only part of his job. Cole notes that "I never wanted to be restricted to dealing only with minority issues. I wanted to teach everyone, to recruit everyone, to solve problems in every arena." Still, he is proud of the diversity-focused programs that he and others have created at Ole Miss. "Some of our programs are unparalleled. Ole Miss is head and shoulders above other institutions in promoting diversity. The commitment starts at the highest level in our administration. In part because of our past, but also because of our present leadership, this university is uniquely poised to lead the rest of the nation in issues of diversity and racial progress. I have seen the school's progress first-hand, and that progress has been tremendous."

Obviously, these words carry strong weight in view of Cole's history with the University. His commitment to this University is also unparalleled.