Year: 2009 Author: Jamie Chatman, PhD Advisor: Rudy Guerra Committee Members: Katherine Ensor, Richard Tapia, Katharine Donato Thesis Title: Computing Diversity in Undergraduate Admissions Decisions Abstract: The way that race is used in university admissions has been the center of legal controversy in America. This thesis is an evaluation of a computer based clustering program (Gilbert, 2006) to aid university admissions in choosing diverse entering classes without using race as a deciding factor. The program was evaluated using undergraduate admissions data from two public universities. The existing method suggested diverse entering classes but did not select well based on merit. A method of improvement is introduced that maintains the academic characteristics of the university while suggesting diverse entering classes more similar to those actually accepted.