Inclusive Community Strategic Plan

Inclusive Community Strategic Plan Overview

UCO is committed to inclusive excellence. This includes creating an environment where all who come to learn, work or teach are valued and where there is joint pursuit of superior engagement and implementation of inclusion, equity and diversity in all aspects of university life.

Following a request by President Neuhold-Ravikumar that we incorporate specific diversity, equity, and inclusion goals and objectives into our overall University Strategic Plan, the Inclusive Community Strategic Plan Steering Committee was formed and began meeting in January of 2021. As the President noted in her announcement of this work, “UCO strives to create a campus environment where different identities, backgrounds and experiences are valued, and contribute to a transformative learning environment.” This Committee has been meeting regularly draft a framework for our shared vision and outcomes as they relate to enhancing inclusive excellence at UCO.

The UCO community will be part of creating this plan, providing feedback and suggestions. We welcome your thoughtful commentary and ideas.

Strategic Plan Phases

COMPLETE - Phase I: Inclusive Community Strategic Plan Launch  

Develop guiding principles for the planning process.

COMPLETE - Phase II: The Big Dream

Create a shared definition of relevant diversity terms. Identify the vision and draft working goals and objectives for inclusion, equity and diversity at the University of Central Oklahoma. Where do we see ourselves in five years? These goals will evolve throughout the process as the committee gathers UCO community feedback and analyzes relevant data.

COMPLETE - Phase III: Campus and Community Communication

Gather input for the proposed goals and objectives for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the University of Central Oklahoma. Review and synthesize the community feedback for common patterns, and update the goals and objectives to reflect those themes.

COMPLETE - Phase IV: High-Level Diversity Audit    

Utilizing the updated goals and objectives to narrow the focus, gauge the UCO campus climate using quantitative and qualitative analyses of UCO diversity efforts, demographic information, policies and practices.

IN PROGRESS - Phase V: Inclusive Community Objectives Refined

Further refine the goals and objectives using the information gathered during the diversity audit; this phase identifies current equity and inclusion gaps, and informs recommendations  for additional data collection and actionable strategies, culminating in a high-level Inclusive Community Strategic Plan framework. Present the framework to the campus community for questions and commentary.

Phase VI: Creating Diversity Action Plans

Using the Inclusive Community Strategic Plan framework, divisions, departments, colleges and offices will create specific Diversity Action Plans. This will require divisions, departments, colleges and offices to dive deeper into unit-specific data, beyond the general university diversity audit.

Phase VIII: Implementation

Divisions, departments, colleges, and offices will implement their Diversity Action Plans. The Office of Inclusive Community in partnership with Academic Affairs will continue to support them, solicit their Diversity Action Plan progress, and  monitor the overall university climate with a special focus on the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Phase IX: Review and Evaluation

In an effort to continually evolve, this phase encourages ongoing evaluation, results sharing, and celebration of success. The Office of Inclusive Community will provide regular progress reports on the state of diversity, equity, and inclusion at UCO.

Strategic Plan Progress

To date, the steering committee has completed the following items in its work to develop an Inclusive Community Strategic Plan.

1. The development of a shared vision for the future state of a more inclusive and equitable UCO.
2. Research and acknowledgment of the history of access and inclusion/exclusion at UCO and Edmond to contextualize the work we are doing at the present and to clarify our desired future.
3. The alignment of diversity, equity and inclusion values with UCO's mission and pillars.
4. The exploration of common diversity, equity and inclusion terms such as identity, diversity, equity, inclusive community, inclusion, belonging, and justice.
5. The creation of UCO-specific definitions for diversity, equity, inclusive community, and belonging.
6. The brainstorming of goals and objectives to expand and ensure access to opportunity across the university and equity in distributing the benefits of it.
7. The gathering of UCO community feedback regarding the drafted goals and objectives through a campus forum and an online survey.
8. Syntheses of the campus feedback to identify high-level themes in an effort to refine the currently drafted goals and objectives.
9. The collection of existing quantitative and qualitative data as it relates to diversity initiatives across campus, representation in retention, persistence, and graduation, and sense of belonging.
10.  The development of a strategic plan framework that explains the process and work of the Steering Committee, describes the various diversity initiatives across campus, presents the diversity audit data, and provides recommendations for creating and implementing unit-specific Diversity Action Plans.