Diversity
Diversity, Inclusion, & Belonging Statement
The College of Nursing welcomes and values diversity in students, faculty, and staff. We hope to create a culture of belonging and a diverse learning environment both in the classroom and clinical settings through student networking and support groups, student recruitment and services, financial resources, community-engaged learning, community partners, and diverse student clinical placement sites.
Major foci for a wide inclusive ecosystem model for nursing (AACN DEI Toolkit)–
- Climate and intergroup relations
- Education and scholarship
- Access and success
- Institutional viability and capacity
EDI Action Plan
Our Strategic Plan affirms the school’s commitment to advancing and supporting a learning community culture that promotes EDI, and recruits and retains students, faculty, and staff from diverse social and ethnic populations. Our plan focuses on the following four priorities:
Strategy 1
Increase diverse student recruitment and improve their experience
Goals
- Increase partnerships with entities that support diverse students
- Increase presence in K-12 outreach programmingSupport Holistic Admission
- Focus to develop leadership skills and potential mentorship opportunities
- Provide opportunities to address diverse student population concerns and keep the EDI conversations going
Strategy 2
Attract and employ diverse faculty and staff
Goals
- Increase awareness about the EDI efforts in College with prospective applicants
- Implement a faculty hiring program with social and health equity related skills as an important criterion
- Provide and build infrastructure to nurture inclusion at workplace
- Build partnerships that have the potential to increase the diverse pool of applicants
Strategy 3
Conduct an anti-racist curriculum review
Goals
- Continue inclusive syllabi work
- Conduct a curriculum audit through an EDI lens
- Integrate health equity content into the syllabi
Strategy 4
Create centralized infrastructure to support the advancement of EDI goals
Goals
- Provide safe spaces for EDIO dialogue in the college
- Develop and support effective feedback opportunities for affinity groups
- Create a centralized repository of EDI resources for faculty/staff/students
College of Nursing EDI Entities
Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
To assist in cultivating an intentionally welcoming and inclusive campus environment with opportunities to learn and work in a diverse range of settings, CON established the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Valerie Flattes, PhD, APRN, ANP-BC, was appointed to serve as the inaugural Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to further the school’s diversity and its impact on innovation, education, practice, research, and service. This role provides strategic vision and leadership for belonging activities at CON and collaborates on initiatives across the university’s main campus and U of U health EDI. It also serves as a resource for people in the CON community to address areas of success and issues of concern related to diversity and inclusion.
DEIO Committee and Task Forces
The DEIO Committee is responsible for advocating and supporting an inclusive and diverse culture for students, faculty, and staff at the College of Nursing. It evaluates yearly diversity and outreach statistics and experiences of inclusiveness and develops and implements evidence-driven strategies designed to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and outreach.
Sub-Committees
- Anti-Racist Curriculum Team
- Student Recruitment Outreach Team
- Diversity days/months planning Team
Anti-Racism Curriculum Committee
The committee has initiated and plans to complete a full curriculum audit explicitly aimed at reducing harmful bias and discrimination in the curriculum. They have and will continue to identify and remove materials that perpetuate racist and discriminatory norms and practices. They are incorporating AACN essentials for professional nursing education. The committee’s goal is to develop inclusive syllabi that include anti-racism and social justice content in all courses and all programs of study.
BIPOC Student Group
The Black, Indigenous, and People of Color student group is a way to bring BIPOC students together to create an empowering and supportive environment to assist one another in navigating college.
Land Acknowledgment
We, at the College of Nursing, acknowledge that the land on which we operate, which is named for the Ute Tribe, is the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute, and Ute Tribes and is a crossroad for Indigenous Peoples. We recognize and respect the enduring relationship that exists between many Indigenous peoples and their traditional homelands. We are grateful for the territory upon which we gather today; we respect Utah’s Indigenous Peoples, the original stewards of this land; and we value the sovereign relationships that exist between tribal governments, state governments, and the federal government. We affirm the University of Utah’s commitment to a partnership with Native Nations and Urban Indian communities through research, education, and community outreach activities.