For the first time in years — and perhaps ever — Kansas University is developing specific goals for recruiting minority students.

Two committees that worked during the past year have recommended the ideal percentage for students of color at KU. Administrators likely will determine which of the numbers they will adopt as a university-wide goal.

“I think it can provide a mechanism for the university for determining whether its goals are being met,” said Santos Nunez, director of the Multicultural Resource Center.

The two committees were part of the priority groups commissioned by Marlesa Roney, vice provost for student success. Nunez led a committee that suggested KU’s freshman class include 16 percent minority students by 2016, with an incoming transfer class that is 18 percent minority.

Another group, focusing on overall recruitment strategies, recommended 14 percent minorities among freshmen and 16 percent among transfer students.

Roney and other KU administrators are reviewing the goals and some set by other committees to determine which will be adopted.

Either minority number would increase KU’s diversity. In the fall 2003 semester, 12.6 percent of freshmen and 14 percent of transfer students were minorities.

Overall, the 3,281 minority students on campus is the highest number in KU history.

“I’m still not satisfied with where we are,” Chancellor Robert Hemenway said, “but we’ve made some significant strides in that regard.”

Lisa Pinamonti, director of admissions and scholarships, said she welcomed having specific goals for recruiting minorities.

“I like that direction,” she said, “and I can pass it on to my staff.”

Increased efforts for increasing KU’s diversity include a new “multicultural roadshow,” a recruiting event that last year included stops in Kansas City, Kan., Topeka and Wichita. The events will occur again in February.

Pinamonti’s office also has been making more contact with community organizations and middle schools, with the idea of convincing more minority students to come to KU.

“I truly believe the goal is supported,” Pinamonti said. “Faculty and staff are on board to assist with the efforts. You can see that with the numbers.”

KU administrators are starting to increase diversity by keeping more minority students on campus.

The university is continuing to expand its Multicultural Scholars Program, which began in the School of Business in 1992 and now is in eight academic units.

The program includes pairing students who are minorities, first-time university students or of low socioeconomic backgrounds with faculty mentors, holding group academic and social events and providing scholarships.

“When you are a student of color, a first-generation college student or from a low socioeconomic unit and you come on a predominantly white campus, the environment around you isn’t the same as it was before,” said Renate Mai-Dalton, who directs the program. “We all feel comfortable in the environment we’re familiar with.”

Of the minority freshmen who entered in fall 2002, 81.7 percent returned in fall 2003 — an increase of 2 percent from the previous year and up significantly from the 71.2 percent five years before.