Point Person: Wanda Mitchell, vice provost for faculty development and inclusive excellence, affiliate associate professor, education and family studies.

We will develop new opportunities for UNH students to work and study at institutions in different parts of our country, and redouble our efforts to recruit a more diverse set of students, faculty, and staff. UNH will create campus environments that foster inclusiveness and quality engagement for all.

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

American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)

Relevant working group reports

Group 1 – Breaking Silos, Scrambling Categories: Integrating the Academy Horizontally and Vertically

Group 6 – Student Experience: UNH as a Student‐Centered Institution

Group 7 – Communities and Alliances: Expanding and Deepening UNH’s Strategic Partnerships

Group 8 – UNH and the World: Advancing a Global Perspective

Download all reports (pdf)

What's happened in the last year

The University of New Hampshire has implemented initiatives to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in ways that demonstrate its commitment to the citizens of New Hampshire in a rapidly changing world.

The Office of Faculty Development and Inclusive Excellence is responsible for developing and sustaining programs, policies and initiatives to recruit, retain, review, and advance faculty at the University of New Hampshire. Mentoring and support for all faculty at all ranks, will create a dynamic learning environment for student success.

Leadership and support for institutional initiatives that create a welcoming academic environment for faculty, staff, and students of diverse backgrounds and experiences remain a central responsibility.

Over the past year, the University has engaged in diversity initiatives that focused upon five categories: organizational structure, recruitment and retention, curriculum, community climate, and outreach and engagement. The following are a few accomplishments:

• Renamed the University and Provost’s diversity initiatives to “Inclusive Excellence” to reflect current national practices and the University’s strategic planning initiatives.


• Re-titling of diversity Web site to Inclusive Excellence Initiatives
   


• Launching of the New Hampshire Inclusive Excellence State-wide Summit, Making Excellence Inclusive: Building Engaged Learning Communities throughout New Hampshire on April 16, 2010.  NH Inclusive Learning Communties.


• The creation of the President’s Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities was established in fall 2009.  Donna Marie Sorrentino, Director of Affirmative Action and Equity received the Governor’s Commission on Disability award for efforts to champion and advocate for the disability community at UNH


• UNH President Leads Effort to Support Women Faculty in the Sciences
   


• The Inaugural Faculty Mentoring Program and Professional Development Program was launched in September 2008 to prepare junior faculty to become the next generation of successful tenured faculty.  Faculty are an essential resource at the University of New Hampshire; and if the institution is to grow and flourish, faculty must be supported, mentored, and retained. 


• The Office of Diversity Initiatives in collaboration with the Office of Human Resources organized a spring staff development program for March 18 and 19, 2010. The program entitled Leading as Diversity Champions (LDC) focuses on staff members' ability to add value to the University and to the people he or she serves as an employee valuing diversity, leadership, and high-performance teams.  

What's happening now and plans for the future

To achieve the results that we have proposed for the University’s goal of “inclusive excellence” we recognize the need to be open to innovative, nontraditional, and highly proactive strategies that can contribute to the results we seek. UNH is committed to the value of diversity and will actualize this value through the programmatic initiative of “Making UNH More Inclusive.”

The following are initiatives planned for the future.

• With the emphasis on inclusive excellence in our new strategic plan, the role and influence of the vice provost for faculty development and inclusive excellence have been extended into new areas relating to faculty development, access, diversity and academic excellence.


• The Faculty Development Program have been expanded to include support and resources for senior faculty and academic leaders through the newly established Professional Development for Academic Leaders Program


• The Summit was the product of hard work, collaboration and partnership.  UNH is working with the New Hampshire College and University Council (NHCUC) to approve the launching of a statewide inclusive excellence strategic planning process. The outcome of the planning process would yield a New Hampshire Higher Education Community Inclusive Excellence Plan that would guide initiatives to advance diversity and equity for all NHCUC institutions.


• The N.H. Inclusive Excellence State-wide Summit will become a bi-annual event to present successful exemplary practices of New Hampshire colleges and universities, and this collaborative event will be funded by corporate and institutional sponsorship.


• The Diversity Council is developing a new 2010–2015 Inclusive Excellence Strategic Plan entitled, Making Excellence Inclusive: Advancing Access, Diversity, and Equity that will align with the 2010–2020 University Strategic Plan. The Inclusive Excellence Plan will identify and monitor initiatives to advance access, diversity, and equity that support academic excellence.


• A review of the four President’s Commissions will be conducted to ensure that the Commissions remain visible and highly functioning agents with an eye towards creating a more integrated operation consistent with the Strategic Plan. The Commissions have a very proud history at UNH starting with the Women’s Commission established in 1972; People of Color 1997; GLBT 2001, but as a task force in 1992; and People with Disabilities 2009.