About us
Our vision
Under the leadership of Chancellor Dr. Kristin G. Esterberg, the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion is positioned as the campus-wide strategic partner for diversity, equity, and inclusion charged to set campus vision, mission, and priorities for this work.
In Spring 2022, Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Dr. Caroline S. Titan brought forth the following campus vision for diversity, equity, and inclusion:
To foster a beloved community in which students, staff, and faculty can thrive and transform the University of Washington Bothell, our greater community, and beyond.
What is a beloved community?
The “beloved community” is a concept popularized by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drawing from bell hooks, we define “beloved community” as a community of people who have hard conversations across difference, find ways to work hand in hand to right inequity, and are deeply rooted in a profound sense of love so that we honor and retain each other’s humanity and dignity along the way.
Living out our vision
The Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and its team manifest the beloved community through our commitments to authentic relationship and community building. The relationships we build include those with each other, the institution, the broader campus, and within ourselves.
Our mission
In service of the campus vision for diversity, equity, and inclusion brought forth by Associate Vice Chancellor Dr. Titan, the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion serves the following mission:
To educate and equip students, staff, and faculty with the knowledge and skills to build a more humane, inclusive, and intentional educational experience for all.
Our strategic priorities
In Spring 2022, Associate Vice Chancellor Dr. Titan identified three strategic priorities for the campus’s diversity, equity, and inclusion work over the next 3–5 years:
- Build the capacity of campus stakeholders to integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion into their practices.
- Ensure the organizational alignment and embedding of diversity, equity, and inclusion in campus-wide processes and structures.
- Invest in the growth and sustainability of the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion to meet the increasing needs of righting inequities on campus.
Our values
Our values are the guide to our work. We use these values when educating, coaching, interacting with, and working alongside campus stakeholders.
Curiosity
We ground ourselves in curiosity rather than judgment. We seek to ask questions, gather context, and build relationships rather than coming to conclusions that are not representative of the people, situations, or issues at hand. We seek to understand before we act.
Integrity
We center ourselves in a profound sense of love and humanity when doing this work, which includes when we make decisions, create programs, and interact with campus partners. We commit to the ethic of love and humanity in all we do.
Mutuality
We believe in the interexchange of time, services, communication, transparency, and effort between our Office and campus stakeholders for the mutual benefit and growth of all. While we are here to advance this work, we believe that campus stakeholders are also a part of advancing our vision and mission when leveraging their resources and power to enact this work on campus.
Growth-mindset
No one is perfect, ourselves included, and this work is constantly changing. We commit to continual learning and giving space to make mistakes and learn from them without being excommunicated from community. We believe when mistakes are made there is room for loving and relational accountability, reconciliation, and restoration to community.
Joy
Many of us who belong to minoritized cultures have long used joy, or the patient strength that comes from our cultures, as our resistance to a world that has not always represented us. Joy is not the erasure of hardship but the acknowledgment that even in midst of hardship and struggle, we can cherish ourselves and others who are on the journey to liberation with us. We choose to access joy, in its many forms, as an active resistance and to decenter dominant cultures so that our struggle does not warp the essence of who we are as human beings.
Sustainability
For us, the mission is never greater than the people because people are the mission. To prevent burn-out and attrition of our staff, we believe in “right-sizing” our efforts and operations with our campus and partners to be reflective of the resources and staffing allocated to the division. We also believe in intentionally building structures and processes over time as opposed to engaging in action that is performative, reactionary, or lacking substance.