Office for Equity and Diversity

Dear New Pirates,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to ECU. The Office for Equity and Diversity (OED) would like to serve as a resource for your success. It is our belief that faculty and administrators lead the process of creating a living, learning and working environment that is inclusive of diversity via curriculum, research, community-university partnerships and programs. Without you and your leadership, we will not achieve our institution’s mission and its institutional and unit-driven strategic priorities. Our office provides leadership to the university’s efforts to foster a welcoming and inclusive environment through policy and practice. The office promotes equity in educational opportunity, programming, initiatives, and employment and promotes an environment of respect and inclusion for all members of the university community.

The scope of our office encompasses institutional equity and diversity functions and involves education, intervention, compliance, consulting, programming, special initiatives, outreach and assessment. Administrators in this office monitor institutional data and practices in support of the principles of diversity and equity so that these guiding principles are applied and assessed institutionally on administrative, academic, budgetary and strategic fronts. Programs and services of the office are available to faculty, staff, and students. In an effort to further the goals and vision of equity and diversity at the university, OED supports a number of employee resource groups (ERGs) to create and enhance opportunities for employee engagement around affinity groups. The current ERGs are 1) American Indian Faculty and Staff Group; 2) Chinese Students and Scholars Association; 3) Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Women; 4) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Faculty and Staff Group; 5) Organization of African American Faculty; and 6) Organization of African American Staff. I am excited to share an opportunity for you to connect with the ERG groups. The OED will sponsor a lunch on Tuesday, August 19, 2014 (the second day of ECU's New Faculty Orientation), from 12 noon to 1:30 pm in Mendenhall Student Center in Great Room #3. This lunch will be an opportunity for you to hear from members of the ERGs and to have lunch, our treat. You will be receiving an email invitation to this event and RSVPs are required.

Please visit our website at www.ecu.edu/oed to learn more about our programs and initiatives, required educational modules, and institutional efforts to advance diversity at ECU. Please contact our office to explore ways that OED can support you in your success and assist you in advancing diversity through your endeavors at ECU.  I look forward to meeting you personally and wish you great success here at ECU.

Sincerely,

LaKesha Alston
Associate Provost for Equity and Diversity 
alstonl@ecu.edu