The University of Vermont’s Comprehensive Inclusive Excellence Plan is the result of an unprecedented and all-inclusive process involving a broad set of stakeholders across our community, including our University Diversity Council and all senior leaders. Representatives from every division and college on campus worked with the Office of the Vice Provost for IE to support UVM’s first-ever data-driven strategic planning process. Each unit developed an Inclusive Excellence Action Plan that utilizes metrics baselined by our 2022 Campus Climate Survey, demographics, and other data points to set their goals. These plans are public, as are their annual progress reports throughout this 5-year implementation period.
Print the Comprehensive Plan
Printed versions of the UVM Comprehensive Inclusive Excellence Action Plan are available upon request. You can also download a version to print here.
Download spread pages (PDF) Download single pages (PDF)From our leaders
Message from the President and Provost
We are pleased to share with you the University of Vermont’s first comprehensive Inclusive Excellence Action Plan. Aligned with our Amplifying Our Impact strategic vision and Academic Success Goals, the plan is a comprehensive strategy to advance Inclusive Excellence at UVM. This plan is the result of a broad, participatory process in which every unit of the university developed a data-driven Inclusive Excellence Action Plan with unique features and shared goals. The university’s Our Common Ground values underpin every element of this work.
We are grateful to the many members of our community who made this plan possible through their energy, commitment, and collaboration. We now ask everyone at UVM to embrace and model Our Common Ground values of justice, openness, respect, integrity, responsibility, and innovation and to build and sustain a culture of belonging, equity, and inclusion for students, faculty, and staff. We are asking our community to move their action plans forward with acknowledgement and understanding of local and global demographic realities.
The university pursues inclusive excellence because doing so will empower us to fulfil our mission as the state’s public flagship land-grant university. We are committed to attracting and retaining world-class, diverse talent to our region to drive innovation and economic impact. Only by fully realizing inclusive excellence will UVM and our region to thrive. Inclusive excellence is, indeed, an investment in Vermont’s future.
The ongoing success of the university calls for our deliberate and unwavering focus on equity and inclusion. UVM is a thriving university because of the rich diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, and ideas our community comprises. This plan charts our course for an even more equitable and inclusive institution right now and far into the future.
Suresh V. Garimella
President, University of Vermont
Patricia A. Prelock
Provost and Senior Vice President, University of Vermont
Message from the Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence
The University of Vermont’s Comprehensive Inclusive Excellence Action Plan is the result of an unprecedented all-inclusive process involving a broad set of stakeholders across our community including our University Diversity Council (UDC) and all senior leaders. With membership from every division and College, the UDC worked with the Office of the Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence to support UVM’s first-ever data-driven IE strategic planning process. Each unit developed an Inclusive Excellence Action Plan (IEAP) that utilizes metrics baselined by our 2022 Campus Climate Survey, demographics, and other data points to set their goals. These plans are public and will include tracking of progress on an annual basis during this 5-year implementation period.
I want to thank all members of the UVM community who spent countless hours to ensure that every unit set goals and made concrete commitments to advance Inclusive Excellence in their respective part of the institution. UVM’s commitment to strategic action on IE should remind all Catamounts that we are a community that boldly works to live into Our Common Ground values: Respect, Integrity, Innovation, Openness, Justice, and Responsibility.
Amer F. Ahmed
Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence
Words into action
UVM has a noteworthy history of commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. As our institution advances the Amplifying Our Impact strategic vision with a focus on promoting healthy societies and a healthy environment, we must make specific commitments to address historically based and emerging inequities. Meanwhile, the landscape of higher education continues to evolve in response to rapidly shifting demographics. We must harness this opportunity to impact the world positively through innovation, creativity, and educational excellence by setting and achieving specific, ambitious, and measurable goals.
UVM’s Comprehensive Inclusive Excellence Action Plan helps us to work together effectively across our institution by embedding the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion into every aspect of our work. Each academic and administrative unit created customized Inclusive Excellence Action Plan (IEAP) with measurable goals tailored to the unit’s function. Each plan incorporates Our Common Ground values and, together, they amplified our ability to positively impact our community.
Distinctive areas of excellence
Our community represents at least six distinctive areas of excellence that can be viewed through an inclusive excellence and equity lens from our values to our focus on building healthy environments, sustainable systems, and resilient communities. A few examples are:
- Health equity
- Equitable community resilience
- Climate change: Environmental equity, justice, and inclusion
- Sustainable food systems with equitable access to healthy food
- Inclusion towards innovation of complex systems
- Value-based leadership aligned with Our Common Ground
A vision of shared equity leadership and inclusive excellence
UVM will deploy ‘Shared Equity Leadership’ across the university in pursuit of Inclusive Excellence.
Inclusive Excellence is a key aspect of UVM’s identity as a premier public research institution focused on sustainable solutions to the complex challenges of our time with local, national, and global applications, applying our expertise to ensure people and planet thrive. We claim our unique position among public flagship institutions and high-ranking midsized private universities that create, evaluate, share, and apply knowledge. We prepare students to be accountable leaders who will bring to their careers a dedication to the global community, an ability to navigate complexity, effective problem-solving and communication skills, and an enduring commitment to learning and ethical conduct.
Finally, we lean into Our Common Ground values and address the impact of harm and behaviors that do not live up to these values.
IEAP process overview
Charged by President Garimella, the University Diversity Council (UDC) was formed during the Spring of 2021. In Fall 2021, the newly appointed Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence (VPIE), Amer F. Ahmed began convening the UDC monthly and led a process towards the development of data-driven unit Inclusive Excellence Action Plans. In January 2022, Dr. Damon A. Williams, first author of the American Association of College and Universities’ initial white paper on the Inclusive Excellence framework, was brought to campus to engage UVM senior leaders on how to enact Strategic Diversity Leadership in higher education. At the same time, a campus climate survey was conducted during the Spring 2022 semester to provide units with baseline data that would enable them to set goals for their respective IEAPs. Coupled with demographic data, the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment provided dashboards with unit-specific disaggregated data. This is the first time that campus climate data has been used at UVM to set measurable IE-related goals. Campus climate surveys will continue to be administered on a recurring 3-year basis to track progress over time.
Each semester during the planning process, The VPIE convened UDC reps with their respective senior leaders to ensure high-level investment and engagement in the development of IEAPs in support of broader unit goals and priorities. This engagement ensured that each IEAP complements the broader unit efforts to advance President Garimella’s Amplifying Our Impact strategic vision and Provost Prelock’s Academic Success Goals.
UVM's Inclusive Excellence Strategy
Curricular and co-curricular academic success goals
Developed by the Provost, the Academic Success Goals (ASG) are intended to support President Garimella’s strategic areas of impact, and reflect priorities in Teaching and Learning, Knowledge Creation, and Engagement. Specific goals are also connected with UVM's Action Plan.
Academic units
ASG 1.6: Increase the diversity of perspectives, experiences, and thought
- Ensure an inclusive learning environment developed and implemented by faculty and staff
- Implement a strategy for recruiting and retaining diverse faculty, staff, and students
- Strengthen D1 and D2 course offerings in the Catamount Core General Education Curriculum in collaboration with the Division for Academic Affairs and Student Success
Academic units in collaboration with the Division for Faculty Affairs (DOFA) and Division for Academic Affairs and Student Success
ASG 2.1: Raise the University’s research, scholarship, and creative arts profile by identifying and growing areas of research, scholarship, and creative arts strength through strategic hiring.
ASG 2.2: Increase interdisciplinary research in areas of distinctive strengths.
ASG 3.1: Use an evidenced-based engagement approach to addressing contemporary challenges on service to and partnership with rural and other underserved communities including culturally responsive participatory action research.
ASG 3.3: Prepare students to be engaged citizens by:
- providing and supporting community-engaged experiential learning activities for students at all levels that address community priorities and challenges
- establishing pathways for global learning; developing learning opportunities and assess outcomes in intergroup dialogue at all educational levels, including faculty and staff, to improve civil discourse and civic engagement.
University actions
- Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Student Success (VPAASS), Division of Student Affairs (DOSA), and Vice Provost for IE (VPIE) will collaborate with academic units to implement the UVM Integrative Learning Rubric, UVM’s Inclusive Excellence Strategy for IE-related out-of-classroom student learning experiences and opportunities.
- DOSA will integrate IE principles across all residential and student life programming.
- DOFA in collaboration with HR, Inclusive Excellence, the Graduate College, and other academic units recruit & retain diverse faculty and staff by:
- Revising job descriptions that highlight our commitment to inclusive excellence with objective rubrics in search processes, and a commitment to diversification of pools and in-person recruitment (ASG 1.6),
- Increasing the number of postdoctoral positions and fellowships across underrepresented groups (ASG 2.1), and
- Providing coordinated mentorship and support for junior and mid-career faculty research, scholarship, and creative activity to support retention (ASG 2.1) by:
- Developing and implementing a talent management strategy with strengthened recruitment tools, onboarding, and classification and compensation architecture for staff, and
- Convening diversity officers in academic and non-academic units to develop community-building and support opportunities for faculty/staff of color and other historically/systemically marginalized identity groups.
- In collaboration with Academic Units, the Division of Enrollment Management (DEM), DOSA, VPAASS, and VPIE will:
- Improve retention, progression, and graduation rates at all educational levels (ASG 1.3) by:
- Implementing strategies to support success in foundational academic experiences, community building, and opportunities for integrative learning,
- Ensuring all students have access to quality academic and student life support services including academic success, wellness, and mental health support, and
- Building a high-quality, effective, and accessible system of academic advising that empowers and enables both advisors and advisees at all educational levels.
- Increase the diversity of perspectives, experiences, and thought (ASG 1.6) by:
- Implementing strategies to diversify the student body at all educational levels,
- Establishing an enrollment and educational strategy for increasing international student enrollment and retention at all educational levels, and
- Developing a pre-college outreach strategy focused on strengthening Vermont college access pipeline for underrepresented populations with VPIE, University Outreach Council, and Office of Engagement.
- Improve retention, progression, and graduation rates at all educational levels (ASG 1.3) by:
Professional development and faculty learning
- VPIE, HR, and DOFA will implement shared Inclusive Excellence Faculty and Staff Professional Development Strategy building intercultural skills, identity-based
knowledge, and practical application through communities of practice. - In alignment with ASG 1.5 and 1.6, Academic Units working with Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) & VPIE will provide ongoing learning opportunities including inclusive pedagogy workshops in alignment with faculty Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure guidelines.
- ASG 1.5: Increase faculty and staff participation in impactful professional development; coordinate faculty and academic administrator participation in comprehensive faculty development and mentoring programming; and assess the effectiveness of these initiatives.
- Utilize the recently awarded Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) grant to incentivize STEM faculty to strengthen inclusive teaching in the classroom through Communities of Practice, advancing dialogic facilitation principles, and other methods.
- Through coordination between units and the Office of the VPIE, develop and offer key faculty and staff development to promote inclusive excellence, including:
- Supporting diversity officers in academic and non-academic units to develop unit-specific IE-related professional and faculty development opportunities, and ensure an inclusive learning environment developed and implemented by faculty and staff (ASG 1.6)
- Integrating skills into job descriptions and performance evaluations supported by ongoing professional development opportunities offered through the Office of the VPIE
- Collaborating with HR and academic and student success leaders to ensure strategic staff professional development opportunities that support institutional goals (ASG 1.5)
Additional elements
Several other alignments across administrative and academic units emerged in critical areas of inclusive excellence including campus accessibility; international experiences to support intercultural competency; commitment to sustainability and research with a health equity lens; ways to communicate Our Common Ground Values; and ways to ensure resources are available and used strategically to implement our IEAPs across campus.
Accessibility
- Strengthen utilization of Universal Design, Universal Design Learning, and digital accessibility/inclusion across all units.
- Coordinate and streamline resources in CTL, VPASS, DOSA, Center on Disability and Community Inclusion, Safety and Compliance, Enterprise Technology Services (ETS), Strategic Communications, etc.
Internationalization
- Work with the Executive Director of International Partnerships and Programs, VPIE, DOFA and Provost to implement the Campus Internationalization Plan utilizing intercultural skills to strengthen international student, staff, and faculty inclusion.
- Embed a global equity lens into international education opportunities utilizing the Intercultural Praxis Model.
- Strengthen synergies for international inclusion and a IE strategy including international dimensions of inclusive pedagogy through:
- Infusing intercultural skills throughout UVM community, and
- Strengthening International student support in UVM Identity Centers (Mosaic Center for Students of Color, Interfaith Center, Women and Gender Equity Center, and Prism Center), ACCESS, and all other related support resources.
Sustainability
Embed Inclusive Excellence initiatives into the UVM Comprehensive Sustainability Plan with regular convening of representatives Rubenstein, CEMS, CALS, and Grossman Schools/Colleges; the Gund Institute and Agroecology Institutes, Office of Sustainability, and VPDEI to identify synergistic opportunities.
Health equity
Strengthen newly developed collaborative efforts to advance Inclusive Excellence and Health Equity by the Larner College of Medicine (LCOM), College of Nursing and Health Sciences (CNHS), Osher Center for Integrative Health, UVM Health Network, and VPIE including recently developed and implemented annual Health Equity Summit.
Communications
- Strengthen ongoing UVM Our Common Ground campaign with a unified reporting system for hate/bias educational response and tracking.
- Implement UVM Inclusive Excellence Communication strategy.
Assessment
- Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (OIRA) with VPIE to provide units with ongoing access and support of disaggregated data dashboards on IE-related data points (e.g., Campus Climate Survey, Demographics, National Survey of Student Engagement survey, 6-week student survey, retention data, etc.).
- OIRA and Provost Office tracking progress on ASG implementation.
- VPIE working consultatively with all units on IEAP annual progress reports.
Research
- Office of Vice President for Research working with Academic Units to support IE-related research including grants, grant-writing, and other mechanisms that can garner external resources.
- Build research and internship partnerships with organizations that seek to benefit from UVM demographic diversity and IE-related research.
- VPIE working with UDC will populate the new Catamount Inclusive Excellence Hub with all IE-related research being conducted across UVM.
Finance, administration, and fundraising
- Prioritize financial resources for IEAP implementation.
- Strengthen physical accessibility and gender inclusion in facilities.
- Diversify suppliers contracted by UVM.
- Use IEAPs as a fundraising roadmap to garner energy, interest, and resources from donors and alums with passion, energy, and commitment to Inclusive Excellence at UVM.
Forging the path ahead
As UVM charts its course into the future, we do so with an unprecedented collaborative spirit. Through shared equity leadership and a commitment to Inclusive Excellence, together we will track progress and demonstrate our commitment to the Amplifying Our Impact vision and Our Common Ground values.