Our Focus Areas

Over the past several years, we have made great progress together, but we know we must do more. Below are the areas of focus we are dedicated to in our effort to become an equitable, diverse and inclusive community.

 

Assessing Campus Climate to Drive Cultural Change

Tulane students on campusWe engage in regular qualitative and quantitative EDI climate assessments to ensure we have continuing knowledge of how students, staff, faculty, and administrators perceive and experience our community.

We build an EDI Inventory to show where our EDI work is across campus to identify strengths and address gaps.

We integrate EDI assessment data throughout all of our campus change strategies to develop accountability for creating a campus climate that feels like home for all who live, learn, and work at Tulane.

We partner with schools and shared service units as they engage in their work to assess unit EDI efforts, climate and culture change, and ensure alignment of their EDI efforts with Tulane’s overall EDI goals to reduce inequities, create and sustain an inclusive community, and increase accountability.

 

Committing to and Sustaining Racial Equity and Justice

Notes of positivity hang on clothing lines at TulaneWe lead the President’s Commission on Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to identify high-priority issues and vigilantly build an anti-racist campus through our “Plan for Now” and “A Strategy for Tomorrow”. A top priority of the Commission is to create a Tulane culture that proactively addresses systemic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal rac-ism and fosters the commitment to address racism in every context of the university by every Tulane community member.

We coordinate the President’s EDI Initiative Committee to create new, evidence-based programs and expand existing support for BIPOC students.

We develop anti-racist leadership programs and collaborate with campus on implementation of these programs so our faculty, staff, and students acquire essential aware-ness, knowledge, and skills to understand, interrupt, and dismantle systemic racism to guide racial justice efforts.

We lead strategic planning efforts on racial equity in collaboration with schools and shared service units to effectively benchmark, assess, and implement racial equity initiatives that vigilantly pursue anti-racism.

We partner with key faculty governance and other constituencies to identify ways to combat racism inside of the classroom and to infuse key knowledge about systemic rac-ism and racial justice in the curriculum.

 

Promoting Faculty, Staff, and Student EDI Excellence

a Tulane teacher helps studentsWe lead professional development efforts on diversifying faculty, staff, and students so that our campus reflects the inclusive excellence of our larger world.

We collaboratively review and develop equity-minded policies, procedures, and practices to guide access, retention, and advancement of faculty and staff to increase compositional diversity.

We review policies and practices to ensure equitable distribution of resources and opportunities across the institution to minoritized faculty, staff, and students.

We expand resources and support to minoritized faculty, staff, and student communities through ALAAMEA and the EDI Initiatives Committee, working with campus constituent groups, including our international students, faculty, and staff, ad hoc committees, and informal advisory groups to protect minoritized faculty, staff, and students from the burden of navigating and surviving inequities and move toward resilience and thriving in our campus community.

We provide EDI professional development that supports the full participation of faculty and staff who have the awareness, knowledge, and skills to support minoritized community members and build communities committed to addressing and reducing inequities in their units and sustaining an inclusive Tulane.

We engage in broad work with constituencies within and outside of the classroom, such as alumni, donors, and our surrounding communities - to infuse EDI values into action in their work.

 

Creating Inclusive Learning Environments

Tulane students working together on a projectWe value a culture of shared governance, and work closely with University Senate, Deans, Department Chairs, and Program Coordinators, faculty, staff, and other ad hoc committees and informal advisory groups to provide evidence-based best practices for EDI in the curriculum, co-curriculum, experiential learning, and service learning.

We partner and consult with key faculty, staff, and student constituencies to identify ways to level up attention to EDI across all academic programs and social learning activities.

 

Developing Equity-Minded Research Environments

Tulane chemistry teacher and student in labWe partner with key faculty constituencies to increase research mentorship programs for minoritized faculty and students seeking internal and external grants and awards.

We collaborate to provide professional development on best practices for EDI research.

We support grant submissions that address EDI and seek to transform the campus.

We lead and collaborate on regular EDI campus climate assessment that inform EDI re-search strategies on campus.

We consult with campus units and community partners to support EDI research net-works and community-based action research in New Orleans, the Gulf Region, and global contexts.

 

Engaging in EDI Outreach and Community Partnership

We collaborate with surrounding community partners to provide EDI educational and professional development.

We partner with alumni relations, donor development, communications, and other key groups to increase EDI awareness, knowledge, and skills.

We support EDI initiatives that help us understand the history of systemic racism and other intersecting systems of oppression at Tulane, in New Orleans, the Gulf Region, and global contexts and reduce the harm of these inequities.

We consult with key partners on campus in their work to increase vendor and supplier diversity.