About Inclusive Excellence

Inclusive Excellence (IE) is a strategic framework that initially was developed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in 2005. IE recognizes that an institution's success is dependent on the extent to which it centers, values, and engages the vibrant diversity of all its community members, including students, staff, faculty, alumni and other key partners. At its core, Inclusive Excellence offers a guiding framework for institutions to consider, embed, and evaluate inclusive best practices across key institutional dimensions. In CFANS, these dimensions are:

Inclusive Excellence (by design) include five key dimensions.

Dimensions of Inclusive Excellence

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Dimensions of Inclusive Excellence

Dimension 1: Student Access & Success (SAS)

  • Description: Identify and implement strategies to enhance access, minimize barriers, and promote full engagement and success for all CFANS students. Additionally, prioritize developing and strengthening pathways into CFANS, with particular emphasis on increasing access for historically underrepresented populations.

Dimension 2: Teaching & Learning (T&L)

  • Description: Support efforts to ensure that our teaching prioritizes inclusive pedagogy and creates accessible, supportive, and equitable learning environments for all students. 

Dimension 3: Workplace Climate & Connection (WCC)

  • Description: Foster, maintain, and promote an environment in which all CFANS staff and faculty can feel connected, supported, valued, and have the opportunity to experience a sense of belonging.

Dimension 4: Community Engagement (CE)

Description: Prioritize developing strong, mutually beneficial relationships with a diverse and demographically representative range of partners, including community-based organizations, K-12 schools, alumni, businesses, donors, and others.

Dimension 5: Systems & Investment (S&I)

Description: Allocate resources to build the internal systems (e.g., fair policies, practices, performance measures, etc.) needed to foster fair, equitable and inclusive learning and working environments within CFANS.

Adapted from Williams, et al. (2005) and University of Virginia, Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Inclusive Excellence (2022).