Division of DEI Staff
Our people make the difference.
At the University of the South, our commitment to inclusion and belonging is grounded in our core values of community, courage, and curiosity. We seek to build a community enriched by our diversity and centered on equity, justice, mutual respect, and shared responsibility.
We believe that everyone deserves to be treated with mutual respect and dignity regardless of difference, and to feel a strong sense of belonging, connection, safety, and value within our community.
Our mission is to foster an equitable and inclusive living, learning, and working environment that allows each member of our community - students, faculty, and staff - to thrive. We achieve this mission by integrating equity, fairness, and care into our campus culture and institutional policies, practices, and programs.
Our people make the difference.
The university is committed to fostering diverse, equitable, and inclusive living and learning environments for all student populations.
The University of the South is dedicated to creating an environment free of discrimination.
ADA Mission: The ADA Office works to ensure compliance with state and federal disability law; as well as advocating for access beyond compliance on the domain.
The Sewanee CREATE (Conversation-Rich Education for Anti-racist Teaching and learning Environments) team facilitates open, honest dialogues about race and racism that are open to all.
Sewanee's TRHT Campus Center is focused on four goals:
The Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (CDEI) serves as the advisory and recommending body to the Vice Provost of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion/Chief Diversity Officer.
In November 2021, in recognition of National Indigenous/American Indian Heritage Month, the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion launched the Indigenous Engagement Council (IEC), which has become the Indigenous Engagement Initiative (IEI).
The University recently joined the Liberal Arts College Racial Equity Leadership Alliance (LACRELA), a group of liberal arts colleges collaborating on antiracism initiatives. Our membership provides professional development tools for faculty and staff to lead more effectively on issues of racial justice and addressing race and equity issues, including regular meetings with peers, campus surveys, and online resources and tools.
Sewanee also is a participating institution in the National Assessment of Collegiate Campus Climates (NACCC). The NACCC is a quantitative survey administered annually at colleges and universities across the United States. This survey provides data about undergraduate students’ appraisals of institutional commitment to equity and inclusion, the extent to which they interact meaningfully with diverse others, where and what they learn about race and their feelings of readiness for citizenship in a racially diverse democracy, and other important topics.
In 2022, the NACCC will conduct surveys with staff and faculty to obtain appraisals of institutional commitment to workplace diversity, equity and inclusion.
The Consortium is committed to increasing the diversity of students, faculty members and curricular offerings at liberal arts colleges with a particular focus on enhancing the diversity of faculty members and of applicants for faculty positions. The Consortium was founded as an association of liberal arts colleges committed to strengthening the ethnic diversity of students and of faculty members at liberal arts colleges. The early goals of the Consortium with regard to faculty diversity included encouraging U.S. citizens who are members of under-represented minority groups to complete their graduate programs and to consider faculty employment in liberal arts colleges.
The Consortium invites applications for dissertation fellowships and post-doctoral fellowships from those who will contribute to increasing the diversity of member colleges by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, maximizing the educational benefits of diversity and/or increasing the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of students. Applicants must be able to provide evidence of U.S. citizenship or unconditional permanent residency status at the time of hire.
Appointments to the fellowships are made by the member institutions according to local needs and local program guidelines under the general framework for dissertation fellowships and post-doctoral fellowships described by the Consortium.
Support from generous benefactors helps to sustain and drive our mission forward, contributing to a campus that is welcoming and inclusive for all. Please consider donating today.
Are you planning to bring a lecture, program, or other event to campus that connects to the values, vision, and mission of DEI that you would like for us to sponsor? Or are you hoping that Dr. Anderson-Thompkins will speak at an event? Click one of the links below to make a request!
We welcome visitors to our offices in the EQB Building anytime Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Stop by and get to know us!