President's Council on Inclusive Excellence

Purpose   

The President’s Council on Inclusive Excellence is comprised of faculty, staff, and students who lead the process of ensuring that our community promotes inclusiveness in every aspect of college life. The Council works with President Bitterbaum, the Cabinet, and the Chief Diversity Officer to address institutional and system-wide diversity goals including, but not limited to the planning and implementation of the College’s Strategic Diversity Plan.

Mission

The primary charge of the Council is to review campus climate, recruitment and retention practices, curriculum, and community outreach efforts in order to recommend initiatives, policies, and procedures that will enable SUNY Cortland to achieve and sustain inclusive excellence. The scope of work includes one or more of the following:

• Defining and articulating Inclusive Excellence as well as diversity terminology at Cortland;
• Proposing institutional policies, procedures, and practices on the use preferred pronouns and religious observances;
• Serving as a sounding board and provide recommendations on major college initiatives from a diversity lens/perspective;
• Requesting presentations and meetings with college officials regarding College and SUNY System updates on diversity;
• Preparing for incoming transfer and international students by improving intercultural competency on campus;
• Leveraging and increasing the visibility of courses, programs, resources, and opportunities within the college that are already promoting inclusivity;
• Sponsoring and hosting major workshops, trainings, or speakers on diversity;
• Conducting diversity climate assessments to provide a baseline against which to measure future progress towards inclusive excellence on campus.

Co Chairs

Lorraine Lopez-Janove
Chief Diversity Officer

Christopher Ortega
Assistant Professor