On Oct. 29, 2008, the Research Initiative for the Study of Diversity held the "Understanding Differences that Matter: Diversity Research at Auburn University" conference at the Auburn University Hotel and Conference Center. Distinguished Diversity Researcher Awardees gave presentations on their research, and keynote speakers such as Elijah Anderson from Yale University and Patricia Arredondo from the University of Wisconsin gave addresses on affirmative action and multicultural perspectives in scholarship.

Carla Jackson Bell, the director of Multicultural Affairs for the College of Architecture, Design and Construction, came to hear a professor in her college, Michael Clay, give his presentation, "Inclusive, Democratic, Urban Planning Through Broad Access to Sophisticated Forecasting and Policy Analysis Tools." Clay is a Distinguished Diversity Researcher Awardee.

Bell feels this is a unique opportunity to have different people come out and tell Auburn University what they are doing, as far as diversity initiatives. "I think this is a great program, and we need more of this," Bell said. "I think we need to have this at least once a year if we can find the funding for it because it's a very good opportunity, and I'm glad that we can have it this year."

On the definition of diversity, Bell believes it envelops multiple things. "It's wholistic. It entails different perspectives by different people. It can mean one thing to one group of people and something else to another group. It's not only black and white. It's different colors, different perspectives and all of those make up a whole."

Bell offered that diversity research is important because a lot of people do not know exactly what diversity is. "They think it's just dealing with black and white issues. A lot of people didn't know that you can have different types of research opportunities like this, and it's very interesting. I'm glad that we can have six dynamic Auburn University researchers and professors that deal so much in diversity issues," Bell said.

If Bell could stand in the front of a classroom of college students and tell them one thing, she would tell them that everybody needs to engage and sit down and listen to other people's perspectives. In a previous class she taught on Auburn's campus, she had different people and different nationalities telling their different perspectives. She said this helps everyone relate with one another. "You can be more empathetic when you hear different people's perspective, and I think that's the key."