Advisory Council to Chief Diversity Officer as well as the GU President, Provost, and President’s Cabinet through the CDO. GUCDEI mission is aligned with the University Strategic Plan and pursues its mission by collaborating with Gonzaga faculty, students, and staff working to advance diversity and inclusion, equity, and cultural fluency.
To create and sustain a learning, living and working community where human differences thrive.
- This University Council is a major guardian and advocate for developing and sustaining high standards and practices of equity, inclusion and intercultural awareness.
- The University Council is the primary advisory body to the Chief Diversity Officer, the President’s Cabinet and President. It is charged with making policy, programmatic, and procedural recommendations in the following areas:
- Campus Climate
- Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity
- Strategic Planning
- Recruitment and Retention
- Culturally Inclusive Pedagogies and Curriculum
- Evaluation and Accountability
- Domestic Diversity and Global Cultural Engagement
The Council was established in February 2016 by President Thayne McCulloh as a standing University Council on Equity, Inclusion and Intercultural Awareness with the following message:
The Gonzaga Community Mission Statement obligates us to create an educational experience that fosters (among other values) a mature commitment to dignity of the human person, social justice, diversity and intercultural competence. Reflective of this commitment, the university’s strategic plan has set forth certain aspirational goals that further describe and define our intentions. At the heart of these is a desire to create the type of university environment that supports a deep appreciation for, and respect of, individual difference; a learning and living environment free from discrimination; and an educational experience that prepares its graduates to competently enter a world of increasing diversity.
Fulfillment of this commitment obligates the university to develop the types of institutional structures responsible for promoting, facilitating, supporting and assessing intercultural competence. The University Council on Equity, Inclusion and Intercultural Awareness is a primary vehicle for facilitating this activity. Co-chaired by the Associate AVP & Chief Diversity Officer and the Assistant Director of HR for Equity and Inclusion, the Council is made up of representatives from throughout the University, and is charged with advising and making recommendations, through the Chief Diversity Officer, to the President and the President’s Cabinet in the following areas: Campus Climate; Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity; Strategic Planning, Recruitment and Retention; Culturally Inclusive Pedagogies and Curriculum; Domestic and International Cultural Worlds; Evaluation and Accountability.