Introducing Institutional Inclusive Excellence

Hello Jumbos!

In today's email, we introduce the Office of the Vice Provost for Institutional Inclusive Excellence (or IIE for short), which focuses on advancing inclusive excellence, racial equity, and other work related to diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and access here at Tufts University.

Please take some time to explore the information here and on the IIE website, sign up for our newsletter, and contact us via email at diversity@tufts.edu with any questions.

Congratulations on your admittance into Tufts University. I am thrilled to be among the first to welcome you into our community!

As you prepare to embark on this exciting academic journey, I want to share more about IIE's mission and work. While our office supports students, faculty, and staff, this message will focus on upcoming opportunities for you to get involved as undergraduate students and the critical role you can play in advancing a culture of inclusion at Tufts.

The mission of the IIE office is to advance inclusive excellence at Tufts and increase strategic alignment for IIE work across the university's 10 schools and colleges, amplifying its reach and impact and creating an inclusive environment where all students can thrive. Our approach is anchored in joy, liberation, accountability, and transparency and grounded in our collective humanity. We strive for a Tufts community where everyone can experience the best of who they are.

We put our mission into action by building and co-creating opportunities to do the following:

Since joining the Tufts community in early 2023, I have been fortunate to meet with and learn from hundreds of students, faculty, and staff across our schools and campuses. Their input helped inform and guide the development of our strategic vision and goals, and one of our top priorities this year is learning about and incorporating your experiences, perspectives, and feedback into our work. I deeply value co-creation and believe that working together, collaboratively and strategically, is the most effective way to move inclusive excellence forward.

We look forward to getting to know you better, learning from you, and collaborating with you in the years to come, including during new student orientation activities in August. Learn more about creating a culture of inclusive excellence below and get to know the IIE team. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or would like to connect.

In community,

Monroe France
Vice Provost for Institutional Inclusive Excellence | Professor of the Practice

At Tufts, our diversity of experiences, perspectives, and identities strengthens our dynamic and complex academic community. We continuously strive to learn from our differences, to find ways to engage with ideas that test our own beliefs, and to respond to differing perspectives with intellectual curiosity. Having our thoughts challenged with a multiplicity of viewpoints is necessary to better prepare us to go out into the world, especially in increasingly divisive times. We may disagree, but we do so with attention to power dynamics and acknowledgement of our collective humanity.

This upcoming academic year, we are excited to work with partners across Tufts to expand our university-wide inclusive and restorative dialogue programs and frameworks. Stay tuned in the coming months for resources and opportunities to engage across differences and learn about inclusive dialogue strategies and generous listening practices.

Next month, we are excited to collaborate with the Office of Student Life to host many activities during new student orientation week, including an August 30 panel featuring recent alumni.

Panelists will share reflections on their experience at Tufts and how it prepared them to successfully lead and engage across differences in their respective career fields, effective approaches to navigating peer-to-peer relationships, and the importance of embracing a diversity of ideological views and lived experiences. The panel will conclude with a live Q&A. Students will then break off into group discussions focused on building a sense of solidarity amongst the incoming class. This session is part of the mandatory new student orientation program; no sign-up is necessary.

Our team from the IIE office will be present and available through the session to connect. We look forward to meeting you there! Stay tuned for panel speakers and other details soon.

We strive to achieve institutional inclusive excellence through advancing inclusive and restorative dialogues and addressing topics related to civic life and campus climate. Stay tuned for more opportunities to come together in community for further learning and action. In the meantime, check out the following IIE resources to learn more about our office and the work we do to further civic engagement and social impact and to advance inclusive innovation:

Subscribe to our IIE email listserv to learn about future events, resources, and other learning and engagement opportunities. Reach out to us anytime at diversity@tufts.edu.

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