Message to USC Faculty
Dear Colleagues,
One of our collective top priorities is to expand our work fostering inclusivity in the classroom and other learning environments. Our goal is to produce a set of guiding principles and concrete recommendations for enhancing inclusivity at USC.
As faculty, you have a first-hand view into what supports and hinders inclusivity and belonging on our campus. We know each of you works to create positive learning experiences and foster environments in which diverse students thrive—and that can be complicated work.
We’re reaching out to request your participation in discussion sessions being hosted throughout March.
We value learning about your experiences and ideas around classroom inclusivity. These discussions are one-hour Zoom sessions led by professionally trained facilitators in which you can share your experiences and ideas, all of which will help us build on ways to support you in the classroom. We want to be explicit that these sessions are safe spaces to share. Participants’ identities and comments will be kept confidential, and comments will be consolidated and presented without attribution in the resulting report.
You can register for a session here: www.tinyurl.com/USCinclusiveclassrooms.
You can also help spread the word about this initiative by forwarding this message to colleagues and/or students who may be well-positioned to speak to these issues. For questions about the initiative, you may reach out to Patrick Cates, USC’s Director of Organizational Change – Ethics and Culture, at pcates@usc.edu.
Thank you for your time and for your ongoing work on behalf of our students. Together we are building a more inclusive campus.
Sincerely,
Charles F. Zukoski
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Christopher Manning
Vice President and Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer
cc: Office of the President
Academic Deans
President’s Senior Leadership Team
Provost’s Leadership Team
Academic Senate
Staff Assembly
GSG President
USG President