Council on Inclusive Excellence

Members- President's Council on Inclusive Excellence

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Indiana State University embraces diversity and inclusion as core values to cultivate an inclusive community.  Advancing diversity and inclusion is not only a goal, but included in the ISU strategic planning process.  ISU celebrates and supports all students, faculty and staff across the educational community.  Our varied backgrounds enhance and contribute to our collective educational experiences and worldviews.  Our multifaceted community consists of varying groups that are not defined by: age, disability, genetic information, national origin, pregnancy, race/color, creed, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, political affiliation or veteran status, etc.

Indiana State University is committed to providing equal opportunity in employment and education for all.  Discrimination based upon any protected class is strictly prohibited.

INCLUSIVE EXCELLENCE

Inclusive excellence is the recognition that an organization’s success is dependent on how well it values, engages and includes the rich diversity of its community members, including its students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends and affiliates.

Indiana State University is committed to Inclusive Excellence.  Our vision not only reflects the intentional integration of critical thinking, cultural mindfulness and conscientious respect for varied perspectives, but also embodies the ISU core values. Every member of the ISU workforce has a role and responsibility in the active process to address diversity, equity and inclusion.

The changing demographics encourages us to enhance our institutional operations and practices so that Inclusive Excellence becomes the norm through strategic planning: learning, global engagement, institutional advancement, and research and teaching through curricular and co-curricular activities.

Our standard of excellence is the expectation for ALL students is reflected through high quality learning, equity minded administrators, faculty and staff, and progressive student success initiatives that enhance and prepares ALL members of the student body to live and work in a democratic society.

Diversity: Individual differences (e.g., personality, prior knowledge, and life experiences) and group/social differences (e.g., race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, country of origin, and ability as well as cultural, political, religious, or other affiliations) (AACU)

Equity: The creation of opportunities for historically underserved populations to have equal access to and participate in educational programs that are capable of closing the achievement gaps in student success and completion (AACU)

Inclusion: The active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity—in the curriculum, in the co-curriculum, and in communities (intellectual, social, cultural, geographical) with which individuals might connect—in ways that increase awareness, content knowledge, cognitive sophistication, and empathic understanding of the complex ways individuals interact within systems and institutions (AACU)

Social Justice: An analysis of how power, privilege, and oppression impact our experience of our social identities. “Full and equal participation of all groups in a society that is mutually shaped to meet their needs. Social justice includes a vision of society in which the distribution of resources is equitable” and all members of a space, community, or institution, or society are “physically and psychologically safe and secure.” (Adams et al. 2016)

Association of American Colleges and Universities

Adams, M et al. (2016). Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice. New York: Routledge. p. 1.