Colleagues:
Equity, diversity and inclusion are important values at UNCG, and we have engaged in many efforts to create a more inclusive and equitable campus – such that it becomes a part of our DNA. We should all be proud of what has been accomplished as we embrace our vision to be a national model for how a public research university can achieve access and excellence to transform students, knowledge and the region.
But there remains work to do, as EDI efforts are ongoing, complicated, and often difficult, but also necessary and rewarding. Last fall we launched the Equity, Diversity and Inclusive Excellence Initiative website, which includes our action framework, diversity dashboard series and campus-wide efforts.
Many of you also expressed interest in campus climate data to also support and inform EDI efforts.
Now available on the UNCG diversity dashboard is the 2018 and 2020 UNC Engagement Survey of Staff and Faculty with a focus on system-identified questions related to equity, diversity and inclusion. I charge all of us to review the data and begin to examine, discuss, address and alter languages, practices and policies that may lead to less than equitable and inclusive cultures at UNCG, as well as to continue efforts that affirm our values and mission.
As ever my call to action is to “do something,” and to remind each of us that deep systemic change requires leadership at all levels.
– Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr.