Commitment to inclusivity by university leaders
In response to recent challenges our campus has faced in providing an inclusive climate, campus leaders, including Dean Taylor Randall, have drafted this statement:
As leaders of the University of Utah, we work daily to facilitate the intellectual development of all campus members and help our students, staff, and faculty reach for their professional goals.
Over the past months, our campus—indeed our nation—has experienced several threats to our learning environment that challenge individuals’ ability to thrive. These incidents are not isolated and we understand that they are signs of deep racial and gender biases (among other bigotries) that have been perpetuated in our country for now hundreds of years. As leaders within the university community, we acknowledge with humility and with empathy the hurt, pain, and damaging effects on mental and physical well-being that these bigotries and threats can produce. Any such threats are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
Understanding that we have much to learn, we are committed to gaining a more complex understanding of issues that challenge the respectful climate an academic setting demands. These include racial microaggressions, biases against women and LGBTQ+ individuals, and intolerance towards people’s citizenship status, disabilities, politics, and religion. We commit to providing training to individuals within our units so that faculty, advisors, staff, and other students will better understand the problems and challenges that are daily faced by these groups so that we can act with greater understanding at all levels of campus life. Our aim is to create and sustain a university climate where all individuals treat each other with respect and dignity.
We as leaders at the University of Utah promise to develop strategies that work proactively to reduce the potential for such threats. We feel passionately that the University of Utah must become an environment where all individuals on campus are physically safe, so that we all can stretch our minds to places that may feel intellectually unfamiliar, but that excite the mind and lead to new discoveries that benefit societies here and around the globe. We ask for your patience as we strive for a university environment where this is possible for all.
Robert Adler Dean,
College of Law
Cynthia Berg
Dean, College of Social and Behavioral Science
Lorris Betz
Interim Senior Vice President of Health Sciences
Martha Bradley
Senior Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs
Richard Brown
Dean, College of Engineering
Darryl Butt
Dean, College of Mines and Earth Sciences
Elaine Clark
Dean, College of Education
Alberta Comer
Dean, Marriott Library
Randy Dryer
Acting Dean, Honors College
Sarah George
Executive Director, Natural History Museum
Dianne Harris
Dean, College of Humanities
Steve Hess
Chief Information Officer
Wyatt Hume
Dean, School of Dentistry
David Kieda
Dean, Graduate School
Patricia Morton
Dean, College of Nursing
Keith Diaz-Moore
Dean, College of Architecture and Planning
David Perrin
Dean, College of Health
David Pershing
President
Randall Peterson
Dean, College of Pharmacy
Taylor Randall
Dean, David Eccles School of Business
John Scheib
Dean, College of Fine Arts
Barbara Snyder
Vice-President Student Affairs
Kathryn Stockton
Associate Vice-President of Equity and Diversity
Dean, School of Social and Cultural Transformation
Martell Teasley
Dean, College of Social Work
Ruth Watkins
Senior Vice-President Academic Affairs
Henry White
Dean, College of Science[/column]
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