BOULDER - Sallye McKee wants minority students and alumni to help dispel the image that the University of Colorado is hostile to people of color.

McKee, 58, was named vice chancellor for diversity, equity and community engagement Friday.

The impression is widespread in minority communities that CU does not welcome blacks, Hispanics and Indians, McKee said.

She hears that from students at Metropolitan State College of Denver, where she now holds a similar position. She also heard it a decade ago, when she previously worked at CU in a program to recruit minorities to the College of Arts and Sciences.

"At the last minute, they'd get cold feet (about enrolling)," and it took extra effort to convince them that CU was going to be a good experience, McKee said.

She said she will try to get successful black students and alumni before minority gatherings, McKee said.

"The students who are African-Americans on campus who are experiencing success are the best ambassadors for ways to get people beyond that whole notion that the area of Boulder is off-limits and unwelcoming to people who look like them," she said.

Her $160,000-per-year job was created amid continued concern among CU officials about the lack of minority students at the Boulder campus.

In the most recent academic year, 1.5 percent of students were black, down from 1.6 percent the previous year. Six percent were Hispanic, up from 5.8 percent the year before.

Chancellor Bud Peterson said that McKee will be a member of his Cabinet, putting the concern for diversity into the campus' highest-level discussions.

McKee is a Georgia native. She holds degrees in education and has worked in higher education in Colorado and Ohio.

In addition to diversity among students, she will focus on diversity of viewpoints in the classroom. Conservative students have charged that some professors don't welcome their views, and members of the legislature have voiced concern.

Faculty members must understand that students come to class with a wider range of opinions than in the past because of the Internet, McKee said.

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