Seeking Input for the Diversity Strategic Plan

October 1, 2021

Dear Rutgers University–New Brunswick Community,

Over the past several months, Senior Vice President for Equity Enobong (Anna) Branch led our Diversity Steering Committee in its creation of a Diversity Strategic Plan for Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Just as the ongoing Rutgers–New Brunswick Academic Master Plan (NB-AMP) will inform the direction of our academic enterprise over the next five years, the Diversity Strategic Plan supports our aspiration to realize the promise of our great diversity and to truly become a beloved community.

The Diversity Strategic Planning process in New Brunswick is aligned with our university’s overarching creation of a Rutgers University Diversity Strategic Plan. It draws upon President Holloway’s three touchstones for the university: Beloved Community, Academic Excellence, and Institutional Clarity, and establishes the following vitally important goals:

• Recruit and retain a diverse university population that more closely reflects the state of New Jersey, with particular emphasis on the access and equity gaps that affect historically represented groups among students, faculty, and staff;
• Equip individuals with the cross-cultural skills necessary to engage with others in ways that foster dialogue, enable understanding, and promote resilience when conflict occurs, particularly with regard to the role of leadership;
• Promote inclusive teaching practices and engagement with diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in the curriculum, as well as in scholarship, research and creative works, and public engagement;
• Marshal the university’s core activities of teaching, research, and engagement in service of the public good, thus promoting our commitment to our communities; and
• Refine our institutional systems, policies, and procedures to ensure they promote equity, facilitate our diversity goals, improve clarity, provide transparency, and enhance accountability.

The next important step in our planning process is to seek your feedback. While in many ways this plan is comprehensive, we will take a phased approach in its implementation. This plan represents our aspirations and our intentions to act on our commitment to Rutgers–New Brunswick as a place where we all belong and to collectively amplify the richness of our diversity.  I am now writing to ask for your feedback on this draft plan. Please review these Draft Goals and Action Steps and fill out this survey to let us know whether, in your estimation, they fully reflect the work that lies ahead.

Additionally, as we finalize the New Brunswick Diversity Strategic Plan, I would like to call your attention to the university’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Advocacy (IDEA) Grant program, which supports projects that enable students, faculty, and staff to take an active role in building an inclusive community. Information on how to apply for an IDEA Grant can be found here.

As always, I invite you to share your concerns and questions with your respective university leaders and support systems or directly with me via this online form.

I thank you for your participation in this important effort.

Sincerely,

Francine Conway, Ph.D.
Chancellor-Provost, Rutgers University–New Brunswick