November 7, 2006 - The Office of Admissions at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro will host the 9th annual Discover Diversity program Friday and Saturday, Nov. 10-11, for approximately 50 high school students from Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas.

This program is a leadership conference for underrepresented students such as African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans. Participants stay overnight and receive exposure to different aspects of ASU such as college life, career planning workshops, and early scholarship information.

Bryan Bradford, an ASU alumnus and the first African American Student Government Association president, will speak to the students Friday evening.

After finishing his bachelor’s degree in political science at ASU, Bradford completed his master’s degree in higher education with a focus in student personnel at the University of Mississippi.  He spent six years at the University of Alabama, where he served in several positions with the university’s office of undergraduate admissions.  Currently, Bradford is the associate director of undergraduate admissions at Alabama.

The program will conclude on Saturday with a roundtable discussion with ASU faculty, staff and students.

The goals of this program are to illustrate that ASU believes in the importance of diversity on campus and ASU is committed to the success of all students.

Participants are selected by their high school counselor for their academic and extracurricular requirements.

For more information contact Candice Seward at cseward@astate.edu.