In December 2023, President Judy Olian announced the restructuring of the Department of Cultural and Global Engagement, which led to the establishment of the Office of Inclusive Excellence. But what does the term “inclusive excellence” mean?
“Building the diverse community while building the community diversity,” said Claude Mayo, the newly appointed director of inclusive excellence. “I see it as meaning that I am one of the institution’s primary community builders.”
Inclusive excellence is defined as a framework for thinking about equity, diversity, belonging and student success in higher education and how colleges can tackle those challenges, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Mayo explains it in simpler words.
“Building the diverse community is about looking at people who are recognized as diverse and making sure they have a community, that they feel safe here,” Mayo said. “It’s not just getting them here so that they sort of get lost. It’s about working with admissions to make sure we have students from everywhere coming and working with every single student here.”
Mayo explains that the office focuses on broadening, supporting and enriching the overall community.
“Politically, in the world, the word diversity is troubled now,” Mayo said. “Which I’m kind of cool with, because I don’t see us as the diversity office, I see us as the community office. I truly believe that our purpose is to serve everybody, faculty, staff and students.”
Mayo was among the first hires into the new office alongside David Fryson, the interim vice president of inclusive excellence and Patricio Jimenez, Title IX coordinator, after months of university-wide turnover.
As it is a new office, Mayo and his new hires from various other campus offices, spent the late part of the spring 2024 semester and the summer break not only restaffing the office but also “setting their direction.”
Since the office came out of DCGE, Mayo noted that they aren’t starting from scratch and had “the blessing of knowing some of what DCGE has done in the past.”
The Office of Inclusive Excellence, unlike the DCGE, no longer oversees the international student affairs or global education and study abroad programs — which fall under Office of Student Affairs and the Office of Provost respectively. However, Mayo plans to continue to work closely with the new Office of International Students and Scholars.
“We had a fantastic multicultural welcome feast (last) Wednesday,” Mayo said. “I think that collaboration is the epitome of what we want to do. Going forward from here, the communication about (OISS’) students and the students that we serve is going to continue.”
And that is only the beginning, according to Mayo. In their programming plans are various events as part of the Critical Conversations series, which are set to start up again in September.
In his previous role as director of academic integrity, Mayo oversaw the First-Year Immersion program. This is where students from traditionally underrepresented and marginalized groups participate in social, cultural and academic initiatives and fully immerse themselves into the Bobcat community, according to the university’s website. He reassures that the program will continue even in his new role.
“I think inclusive excellence is about making opportunities for everybody in our community,” Mayo said. “My job as the director is to make sure that everything that we do is giving those opportunities to folks.”
