Inclusive Excellence

Last semester I wrote to you about how grateful I am for our diversity and why it is so important to build strategies for engagement with differences. Diversity adds excellence to our community and is fundamental to our continuing success. Inclusive excellence is our goal.

Our current population of students has no ethnic or cultural “majority.” Of course, diversity encompasses much more than ethnicity. At The Beach we are conservatives, libertarians, socialists, liberals, and maybe even anarchists! We are religiously observant across all faiths and we are atheists. We are from wealthy, middle class, and poor families—some with long histories in the U.S. and some who are newcomers. We represent the spectrum of gender and sexual identities and orientations. Some of us have served our country in the military. We are old, middle-aged, young and differently-abled. We reflect a wide range of ideas, talents, interests and proclivities. Hello America!

What’s key is whether we are a university that offers each member of our diverse community an equitable chance for success, that is, inclusive excellence. For example, students, ten years ago only 40 percent of you graduated within six years. Today that figure is 67 percent. Low-income students, who make up about half our student body, have a graduation rate of 63 percent. This is up from 56 percent just a few years ago. We must, however, work to eliminate all gaps among all groups so every student has the choice to earn a quality degree and take their next professional or educational steps in a timely manner.

I want to understand how to improve the success of all faculty and staff members as well. One metric may be the sheer number of diverse faculty and staff who call The Beach home. But, there are other more subtle indicators that we can construct as well.

Throughout the fall semester I met with and listened to many of the varied groups that make up our Beach family. In frank discussions about what is great and not-so-great about our university, students, faculty and staff described their experiences, expressed feelings and frustrations, and communicated the desire to have a voice in creating our future. Some of the stories were surprising, some encouraging, and some painful to hear. We must continue to elicit genuine feedback, acknowledge concerns and engage in problem solving together. Our goal is to create environments that offer everyone the chance to flourish.

As the spring semester begins I want you to know what steps my teams and I are taking to address issues and improve The Beach experience for all.

Communication and Community Building

• A variety of meetings will be held throughout this and subsequent semesters so that we can come to understand each other’s experiences and institutionalize norms for authentic dialogues.
• Cultural sensitivity training will be made available as soon as possible. We hope all segments of our community will take part, but I pledge that my leadership teams will participate.
• Our Multicultural Affairs Department has been reorganized to be a more effective service to the campus community.
• Approximately 76 new tenure track faculty members will be hired for the 2016–17 academic year. We’re working to attract a talented group that demonstrates a commitment to our mission and success working with a diverse student body.
• Assuming a predictable 2016–17 state budget, we’ve committed campus funds to improve faculty and staff salaries to complement negotiated raises.

Opportunities and Initiatives

• Thanks to funding from our Declare campaign, an increasing number of scholarships are available. We are in the process of streamlining students’ ability to access information about and apply for scholarships.
• Many programs—including the Long Beach College Promise, Math Collaborative, and Equal Opportunity Program—are currently in place to increase student diversity. We are cultivating community allies and developing additional outreach programs that attract underrepresented students.
• We’re seeking more internship opportunities for students and establishing a centralized source of information for both students desiring internships and businesses offering valuable experience.
• More funding is available than ever before for international study. We continue to seek donors who are enthusiastic about supporting this important educational asset.
• We’ve strengthened our commitment to service learning and other high-impact educational experiences, and we continue to redesign and add electronic resources to improve learning outcomes in as many courses as possible.
• New initiatives, such as our Student Emergency Intervention Program, will address the needs of food and housing insecure students and foster youth, ensuring success for students no matter what life challenges they face.

And, to move us forward, I’ll be getting advice about creating a steering committee for my special presidential charge that The Beach be the national model of inclusive excellence.

I’m confident many more good ideas will arise if we remain positive and persistent in our quest to remove barriers to success for every member of the community. Let’s get to work creating a future that will be the envy of every university.

Go Beach!