Office for Inclusive Excellence

Inclusive Excellence, which started through a Ford Foundation grant, was designed to be a model for improving academic outcomes, especially for students of color and other marginalized groups, like low-income, first generation, disabled and LGBTQIA students. It also touches on all campus sectors and the surrounding communities. IE reflects the understanding that diversity, equity and inclusion lead to organizational excellence, are to be invited and integrated into the business enterprise’s core and are not isolated initiatives.

As such, Inclusive Excellent is a change oriented planning process that encourages us to continue our diversification efforts with greater intentionality and attentiveness to how they serve the needs of our campus community. The heart of the work will remain, but how we approach and conduct it will shift.

The U.S. education system is falling behind, and by the year 2027, 49% of all high school seniors will be students of color. If we are to remain competitive and ensure that all students have access to a quality education that prepares them for tomorrow’s workforce, it is a necessity that we change how we approach higher education. Thus, IE is a tested, systemic, intentional and sustainable framework designed to support an inclusive university that meets the needs of all faculty, staff and students.

In short, changing our name to the Office for Inclusive Excellence more accurately reflects how we tackle DEI work and better represents the approach needed to develop a campus that adequately prepares faculty, staff and students for success.

The systematic change needed to make IE successful includes:

• Ensuring that every campus aspect underscores the value of diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Making DEI part of the university’s mission.
• Enacting policies, practices and procedures that address systematic inequities and not just surface-level changes.
• Tackling the root causes of inequality and demonstrating how structural shifts can lead to lasting changes in institutional culture.

On campus:

• YWCA of the Niagara Frontier 24 Hour Hotline: 716.433.6716 (call or text)
• Niagara University Health Services located in the Butler Building 716.286.8930
• Niagara University Counseling Services located in the lower level of Seaton Hall 716.286.8536

• YWCA of the Niagara Frontier 24 Hour Hotline: 716.433.6716 (call or text)
• Pinnacle Community Services: Lockport and Niagara Falls 716.285.6984
• Local hospitals: DeGraff Medical Park, Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, and Mount St. Mary’s Hospital

Report to the Interim Title IX coordinator:

• Yolanda Wood 716.286.8423

Report to NU Personnel:

• NU staff and Administration
• Faculty Members
• Campus Safety
• Residence Life Staff
• Athletic Staff

Note: All NU personnel are required to report any incidents to the Title IX Coordinator

• Call 911 if immediate help is needed
• NYS Police 716.297.0755
• Niagara County Sheriff’s Office Victim Assistance Unit 716.438.3306
•  Niagara Falls Police Department Complaints 716.286.4711

Diversity is the various mix of human differences (e.g., personality, learning styles, and life experiences) and group/social differences (e.g., race/ethnicity, class, gender/gender identity, color, sexuality, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, (dis)ability, military status, educational level, or age), and cultural, political, religious or other affiliations that can be engaged in the service of learning, working, and living together.

The diversity of our Niagara community builds on our Vincentian history and allows us to continually explore and deepen our commitment to our shared humanity.

Equity is about fairness, ensuring everyone has access to what they need to succeed. It requires the intentional review and redesign of practices, policies, and systems. Equity allocates and cultivates resources to areas and populations with the greatest need to eliminate barriers and provide support.

As a Vincentian institution, Niagara University is committed to equity, particularly for those who historically have been or continue to be marginalized, excluded, and/or mistreated.

Inclusion is the active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity to create a sense of belonging. Belonging means that people feel respected and heard and can contribute to learning and working as their authentic selves.

Niagara University is committed to inclusion and belonging for people in the curriculum, co-curriculum, work, and scholarly environments and as part of the larger Niagara Falls community.

Social justice requires the acknowledgment and protection of the inherent and equal worth of all people. Because of this essential dignity, each person has the right to what is needed to live and work to their fulfillment.

As a Catholic institution, Niagara University is committed to creating a just community where we hold each other mutually accountable through just and inclusive practices.

Equality indicates a system where everyone has the same opportunities and resources – a “one size fits all” approach to human rights.

Taking notice of inequities, their contexts, and the institution’s agency and responsibility in critically reassessing its practices.

A commitment to intentionally apply an institution’s place-based economic power and human capital in partnership with the community defines this concept.