Welcome to the Office for Equity & Inclusion in the College of Education and Human Sciences! This is a space and place where faculty, students, and staff can serve as agents of social and cultural change to ignite transformative learning opportunities in scholarship/research, teaching, and community outreach.

 

The Office for E&I works collaboratively with our nationally and internationally recognized faculty to host professional development opportunities in scholarship/research and teaching within an equity and inclusion context. Faculty share how to approach research problems in culturally contextual ways, where the nature of the inquiry, epistemological approach, and methodological practice yield data in a context that will help local communities solve protractible challenges of the human condition.

 

In addition, faculty are versed in a variety of pedagogical and curricular strategies that consider the identities, sociocultural contexts, socioeconomic realities, geographical situatedness (e.g. rural/suburban), race/ethnic/linguistic difference, sexual orientation, religious/political affiliation, disability status, etc. Their knowledge and expertise, across different fields/disciplines, provide students with a solid foundation to prepare them with skills and competencies to become engaged citizens in a globally diverse society.

 

The Office of E&I also offers our students co-curricular experiences and learning opportunities. Students can get involved with our Equity & Inclusion Committee; connect their coursework to diversity engagement experiences through the Diversity Cord Project; or become involved with study abroad and international partnerships/programs with our affiliate partner, the Office of International Studies and Global Engagement.

 

Office of E&I aspires to facilitate partnerships with local and regional area schools, to raise awareness to underrepresented youth of what the College of Education and Human Sciences has to offer, across our academic units. Our Office believes in pre-college/youth outreach programs and initiatives to introduce, inform, and inspire the next generation of leaders to find their passion, purpose, and pathway in one of the following academic units: School of Teaching, Learning, and Educational Sciences; School of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Aviation; Human Development and Family Science; Kinesiology, Applied Health and Recreation; Nutritional Sciences; Community Health Sciences, Counseling, and Counseling Psychology; and Design and Merchandizing. Students will have an opportunity to meet with faculty and students, learn about the latest research in their field, and how best to prepare academically, for their desired major in the future.

 

Finally, the Office of E&I strongly believes in the significant role of local communities/organizations to enhance faculty and student knowledge by learning with persons situated in diverse, sociocultural contexts. Families, children, and youth from underserved, underrepresented, and under-resourced communities provide crucial insight into the challenges and opportunities that impact their rights, opportunities, and resources for healthy living, educational empowerment; and social, emotional, and psychological well-being. Subsequently, the Office of E&I seeks to connect classes to local community-based settings, while cultivating reciprocity between faculty, graduate students, and local community organizations with an equity/justice vision and mission.

 

This Office is committed to cultivating competencies for students to be professionally prepared to learn the skills in their chosen industry; become engaged citizens who embrace diversity and serve community; be ethical leaders who possess moral dispositions to make courageous decisions; and embrace their personal responsibility to act on the world to creatively solve its complex challenges. Welcome to the Office of Equity & Inclusion!

 

Sincerely,

 

Darius D. Prier, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Equity & Inclusion
College of Education and Human Sciences
Oklahoma State University