On November 15, ̽̽ released its first-ever Comprehensive Inclusive Excellence Action Plan, a data-driven strategic plan centered on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The plan outlines the University’s commitment and process for advancing inclusive excellence across the university over the next five years.
“This plan is integral to the fulfillment of our mission as the state’s flagship public university,” ̽̽ President Suresh Garimella said. “The broad participation in creating this vision was impressive, and its implementation will strengthen and enrich our entire campus community.”
“Our success is only possible with the engagement of a diverse campus community rich in backgrounds, perspectives, and ideas,” ̽̽ Provost Patricia Prelock said. “We explore, learn, and grow together in and outside the classroom – which makes inclusivity vital. We are committed to creating and protecting space for diverse voices and viewpoints, leaning into our Common Ground Values, and this plan provides crucial guidance to our inclusive excellence process.”
The plan was developed as an overarching strategy supported by 25 individual unit plans steered by University Diversity Council (UDC) members. “Each unit developed an Inclusive Excellence Action Plan utilizing metrics from our 2022 Campus Climate Survey, demographics, and other data points to set their goals,” Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Amer F. Ahmed said.
The process of developing the plan was an especially positive and participatory one, added Ahmed. At monthly UDC meetings, time was always allotted for the group comprised of a broad spectrum of faculty and staff to share their bright spots in the work they are doing. The concept of bright spots comes from the book Switch by Dan and Chip Heath.
“Part of the process of organizational change is acknowledging the good that is happening,” said Paul Suk-Hyun Yoon, Senior Advisor for Inclusive Excellence and one of the facilitators for the University Diversity Council. “You investigate what’s working and see if it can be reproduced in other places.”
Since its inception in the spring of 2021, the primary focus of the UDC has been to develop Inclusive Excellence Action Plans for each of ̽̽’s colleges, schools, and administrative divisions. Bright spots can range from big victories to the smallest of wins and all of them have helped to move the university toward an unprecedented plan of action to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion and provide measurements of this progress.
The highly collaborative process meant the work that distinct colleges or divisions were already doing well could be shared and built upon, while leaving room for units to develop goals that matched their respective needs. UDC representatives worked with senior leaders to create plan models that worked best in meeting the needs of their individual units.
Across the university, undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, faculty, and staff were able to weigh in throughout the process.
Senior and international student Soham Mehta was part of the action plan committee for the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. He noted that the Rubenstein School already fosters an environment that encourages students to engage with faculty, staff, and leadership and he was excited to build on that.
Based on his experiences, Mehta hopes he can help the school expand its global work and partnerships.
“By getting rid of some of the barriers like cost and increasing faculty and graduate networks, there would be more opportunity for international research,” Mehta said, adding that others on the committee also proposed an onboarding program for international students, faculty, and staff that would include the option for new community members to pair up with a mentor who speaks the same language.
The College of Arts and Sciences crafted an overall objective to set the expectation that “social and cultural inclusivity is not ‘extra;’ rather, it is built-in to what we do.” Having started her role as the College’s Assistant Dean for Strategic Equity Initiatives around the same time the IEAP process was getting underway, Erika Lala said it was exciting to see movement already happening with Arts and Sciences’ plan.
“All faculty, staff, and administrators now have access to a live Outlook calendar that includes all dates on both interfaith calendars within ̽̽, all dates in the UDC's calendar of events, all DEI trainings that I am hosting in my role, events that faculty and staff have submitted, and other relevant events from other University calendars,” Lala said.
All Inclusive Excellence Action Plans will be tracked throughout the five-year cycle, both through annual reports and a Campus Climate Survey every three years. More information about the plans can be found on their corresponding , which is accessible through the . Those pages will also be updated as various aspects of the plans are put into action.