CAS IE Action Plan Background
Background
- College/Unit: CAS
- Title of Plan: College of Arts and Sciences IE Action Plan (as of June 2023)
- Introduction Following the University Diversity Council’s call for each unit to create an Inclusive Excellence Plan, a committee comprised of 19 faculty, staff, students, and alumni from the College of Arts and Sciences (sometimes referred to as “CAS”) drafted the preliminary version of the College’s plan. Although some efforts and initiatives must be stewarded by specific individuals or groups, the committee sought to use “us” and “we” whenever possible to reflect the community-wide commitment that the full plan requires. “Us” refers to the CAS community and “we” represents everyone who is a part of it. All CAS staff, faculty, students, and alumni have an affiliation with the College that positions them to represent its mission, vision, and values. About Us The College of Arts and Sciences seeks to be a welcoming community that fully embraces the University of Vermont’s values as stated in Our Common Ground. Understanding that longstanding inequities and our collective experiences with/participation in manifestations of oppression have historically weakened the extent to which they are experienced across our community, we commit to the following objectives to reflect our values more fully and consistently. In addition to the University’s Common Ground Values (Respect, Integrity, Innovation, Openness, Justice, and Responsibility), our students, staff, faculty, and alumni aim to protect the rights of marginalized groups and aspire to live up to the following tenets/pillars: Achievement o All community members – regardless of their background, social identities, and prior experiences – are inspired and able to live up to their full capacity. Those with accessibility needs are never made to feel marginalized or excluded by our polices, practices, or other community members. Acknowledging that achievement means different things for different people and requires different things of different people, we offer and encourage multiple pathways to and measurements of success. Belonging o All community members experience a sense of belonging in our College and across the University. Everyone feels welcome and heard; And everyone is empowered to speak up when community members’ welcome is challenged. Relatedly, any one person should feel confident that threats to their belonging will be considered as threats to the entire community and addressed accordingly. Accountability o All community members show up with intentionality, remain present, and follow through on the consequences of their actions. We seek accountability as a community, helping one another be more conscientious, socially responsible, and answerable to the successes and shortcomings of what we do. We will pursue this plan (implemented once integrated into the College’s larger strategic plan) with a commitment to remain thoughtful, compassionate, and empathetic in our work. We know that while words matter, action must follow. Our actions must be measurable, consistent, and fully integrated across the College. As such, we offer the following definitions to support our work: Diversity: the presence of difference; in the context of working with people/communities, diversity may be present across personal and social identities, thoughts, and opinions, learning needs, or other factors related to a person’s life experience. Importantly, diversity does not guarantee inclusion, belonging, equity, or justice. Equity: fairness; prioritizing individual/group needs over uniformity. To be reliable and sustainable, equity must be reflected in policies, practices, and whole institutions. Inclusion: providing and honoring space (access, opportunities, voice, power, etc.) for everyone. Please note: there are 19 members on the drafting committee. The 15 listed in the next section were joined by the following members of the Dean's Office: o William Falls - Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences o Sarah Helmer - Assistant Dean for Student Services o Erika Lala - Assistant Dean for Strategic Equity Initiatives o Katie Tyler - Student Services Coordinator
Inclusive Excellence Committee/Implementation Team Members
- Jamie Abaied - Associate Professor - Psychological Science
- Aya Cheaito - Graduate Student
- Kellie Fleury - Lane Series Communication - School of the Arts/Lane Series
- Paula Gil Higa - Assistant Professor - School of the Arts/Theater & Dance
- Linden Higgins - Lecturer - Biology
- Amy Hoeltge - Lecturer - Chemistry
- Heidi Kiesler - CAS Advisory Board Member - Alumni
- Brent Lockwood - Associate Professor - Biology
- Alanis Papoulias - Undergraduate Student
- Cameron Provorny - Undergraduate Student
- Sierra Sabec - Undergraduate Student
- Alice Schermerhorn - Associate Professor - Psychological Science
- David Spector - CAS Advisory Board Member - Alumni
- John Waldron - Associate Professor - Romance Languages/Spanish
Unit(s) within College, Division, Department or Unit
- Department: A&S Dean' s Ofc
- Department: CAS College Admin Services
- Department: Fleming Museum
- Department: Lane Series
- Department: School of Arts
- College/Unit: Anthropology
- College/Unit: Art
- College/Unit: Art History
- College/Unit: Asian Studies
- College/Unit: Biochemistry
- College/Unit: Biology
- College/Unit: Canadian Studies
- College/Unit: Chemistry
- College/Unit: Chinese
- College/Unit: Classics
- College/Unit: Critical Race and Ethnic Studies
- College/Unit: Dance
- College/Unit: Economics
- College/Unit: English
- College/Unit: European Studies
- College/Unit: Film and Television Studies
- College/Unit: French
- College/Unit: Gender, Sexuality and Womens Studies
- College/Unit: Geography
- College/Unit: Geology
- College/Unit: German
- College/Unit: Greek
- College/Unit: Greek and Latin
- College/Unit: Greek Language and Literature
- College/Unit: Health and Society
- College/Unit: Historic Preservation
- College/Unit: History
- College/Unit: Holocaust studies
- College/Unit: Individually Designed
- College/Unit: International Politics
- College/Unit: Italian
- College/Unit: Italian Studies
- College/Unit: Japanese
- College/Unit: Jewish Studies
- College/Unit: Latin
- College/Unit: Latin American and Caribbean Studies
- College/Unit: Latin Language and Literature
- College/Unit: Law and Society
- College/Unit: Linguistics
- College/Unit: Middle East Studies
- College/Unit: Music
- College/Unit: Music Technology and Business
- College/Unit: Musical Theatre
- College/Unit: Neuroscience
- College/Unit: Philosophy
- College/Unit: Political Science
- College/Unit: Psychological Science
- College/Unit: Psychology
- College/Unit: Public Policy Analysis
- College/Unit: Religion
- College/Unit: Russian
- College/Unit: Russian and East European Studies
- College/Unit: Sexuality and Gender Identity Studies
- College/Unit: Sociology
- College/Unit: Spanish
- College/Unit: Speech and Debate
- College/Unit: Studio Art
- College/Unit: Theatre
- College/Unit: Vermont Studies
- College/Unit: Writing
- College/Unit: Zoology