U.C.I. Experience Initiative - Understanding a Culture of Inclusion

• Listening, Dialogue, and Community-building Sessions designed to gather and analyze insights on the lived experiences of UC Irvine students, staff, administrators, and faculty.
• Inclusive Excellence Leadership Inventory of each school and major division.
• U.C.I. Experience Initiative Survey on the Lived Experiences of UC Irvine Students, Staff, and Faculty—a scientific gathering of the lived experiences of current UC Irvine students, staff, and faculty to identify core issues.
• Institutes and Forums, Final Data and Report Deliverables designed to inform and educate the campus about the progress of the initiative while creating ongoing opportunities for dialogue through community-building events and dialogue sessions.

The Inclusive Excellence (IE) model, created by Dr. Williams with the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU), launched the Inclusive Excellence movement in American higher education and beyond. Written in 2005, the monograph Toward a Model of Inclusive Excellence and Change in Postsecondary Institutions has been downloaded more than one million times. Notable institutions using the model include the University of Virginia, University of Missouri, Cal Poly, Rider University, Clemson University, and numerous others. The model was recently adopted to drive the racial equity and achievement agenda for the State of Virginia.

The IE model defines diversity as a comprehensive organizational change effort designed to build:

• Access and Equity: Increasing access and equity of outcomes for diverse students by building a welcoming community that engages all of its diversity in the service of overall student and organizational learning.

• An Inclusive, Multicultural Learning Climate: Establishing a multicultural and inclusive campus environment for all students, faculty, and staff. Paying attention to the cultural differences that learners bring to the educational experience and that enhance the enterprise. Establishing a place where all feel welcome, and no one must assimilate to belong.

• Preparation of Students for a Diverse and Global World: Creating learning opportunities for students and training opportunities for faculty and staff that prepare them to lead in a diverse and global world and, more imminently, in a multicultural community.

• Diversity Scholarship: The purposeful development and utilization of diversity-focused teaching, learning, scholarship, service, and creative endeavors to drive the diversity knowledge of the institution. Organizationally, IE means establishing an environment that challenges each student to achieve academically at high levels and each member of the university to contribute to that learning and knowledge development.

The U.C.I. Experience Initiative & Lived Experience Study will support the institution in emboldening its commitment to inclusive excellence and will help university leaders further foster a learning and working environment. The initiative will support the UC Irvine community along its journey of developing an evidence-based approach and strategy to build equitable practices across the entire university.

The initiative seeks to understand the lived experience of current students, staff, and faculty, while offering opportunities for community-building and dialogue. The insights gathered during the first half of the initiative will inform the development of five-year strategic inclusive excellence plan beginning in the fall of 2025, designed to strengthen the university’s ability to create an environment that is inclusive and excellent for all.

Current UC Irvine students, staff, and faculty members are invited to participate in various elements of this initiative, including:

• Listening, Dialogue, and Community-Building Sessions: Over the course of the initiative, the external research team will host a series of online listening, dialogue, and community-building sessions for current students, staff, and faculty. Any and all of those who are interested in sharing more about their lived experiences at UC Irvine are invited to attend at least one of these sessions. Registration will open by October 31, 2024.

• Understanding Culture and Inclusion (UCI) Live Experience Survey: In early 2025, all current students, staff, and faculty will be asked to complete an online survey. This survey takes about 5-15 minutes to complete. To create a demographic profile of the UC Irvine campus community, the survey will ask for information such as race, religion, gender, disability, etc. The survey will also ask students, staff, and faculty about their experiences at UC Irvine, including whether they feel like they belong, have experienced discrimination or bias, and more. Many of these questions will use a scale of “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” Finally, the survey will offer an option to write in stories of relevant experiences and other thoughts. The more responses we receive, the more accurate and impactful the survey results will be.

The information gathered throughout this initiative will go on to:

• Establish a statistical baseline for measuring inclusivity in a way that can be repeated across time to establish progress toward goals.
• Inform the development of OIE strategic inclusive excellence plan and be used to create and refine policies, program, initiatives, and services.
• Provide insight into key climate issues that warrant additional assessment or intervention.