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Dear Members of the ���ϲ����� Community:

In August of 2021, we were charged with engaging the community with the University’s diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) five-year strategic plan draft. We embarked on this effort throughout the fall semester and received 871 responses from individuals and 60 responses from groups. Thank you again to all who participated. Last semester, the community responses were compiled and analyzed. The quantitative data was managed by our Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment team, and we used an external consulting firm, Hanover Research, to compile and analyze the qualitative data.

The arrival of Mary Grace Almandrez, vice president for diversity and inclusion, marks the end of our official role as the engagement triad. We now turn this work over to Vice President Almandrez. We are thrilled that Vice President Almandrez started her role at ���ϲ����� on June 1. She and her team will lead the next phase of the strategic plan process, including continued analysis of the data, sharing the data with the campus community this fall and the implementation of identified priorities. We will each fully support Vice President Almandrez, her team and the campus community in our ongoing DEIA work.

We would like to thank Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff Candace Campbell Jackson; Senior Vice President for International Programs and Academic Operations and Chief of Staff, Academic Affairs, Steve Bennett; Executive Director of Strategic Communications and Initiatives Eboni Britt; and Senior Project Manager Dan Cohen, who joined us in leading this effort and provided their advice, support and expertise. We would also like to thank Senior Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs Jerry Edmonds, Associate Director for Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment Laura Harrington and University Professor and Director of Interdisciplinary Programs and Outreach at the Burton Blatt Institute Stephen Kuusisto for their counsel and assistance.

Thank you all again for your time, energy, efforts and commitment to DEIA and the engagement process. It was our pleasure to work with you, and we look forward to the changes the implementation of this work will bring to our campus as we continue to make our institution welcoming to all.

Sincerely,

Cerri A. Banks
Vice President and Deputy to the Senior Vice President, Student Experience

Diane Lyden Murphy
Dean, David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics

Shiu-Kai Chin
Professor, College of Engineering and Computer Science