California State University, Sacramento
PA-5: Diversity and Equity Coordination

Sacramento State now has a Division of Inclusive Excellence, which was founded in fall 2016 as the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and became a division in May 2019. The division has a Vice President for Inclusive Excellence, Director of Inclusive Excellence Learning and a Director of Faculty Diversity and Inclusion as well as the Office for Equal Opportunity that is responsible for compliance with Title IX and antidiscrimination laws and policies. Inclusive Excellence is defined as the ongoing pursuit to ensure that diversity, equity, and inclusion are integrated into the institutional mission and commitment to academic excellence and student success. The Division of Inclusive Excellence is responsible for ensuring that Sacramento State’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion is both evident throughout the University and communicated to the larger Sacramento community. Inclusive Excellence partners with stakeholders across the campus and in the community to embed an equity-minded and inclusive approach to Sacramento State’s practices and its pursuit of academic excellence and student success.

In addition to Inclusive Excellence, there are other entities across campus that work to advance and support Sacramento State’s goals with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Sacramento State provides various learning opportunities across campus for students, faculty, and staff to support learning as it relates to cultural competence, anti-oppression, anti-racism, etc. The Director of Inclusive Excellence Learning provides ongoing learning opportunities in this space, including the In(ter)ception webinar series, designed to increase campus awareness and understanding of equity and inclusion concepts and book circles that provide space for campus community members read and discuss a text that can help build collective capacity to advance inclusive and antiracist practices together. Other offerings from Inclusive Excellence include trainings related to implicit bias and how to prevent it in the faculty hiring process; compliance training related anti-discrimination laws and Title IX; bringing in outside speakers and trainings on these topics; among other offerings.
In addition, various other programs and departments provide related opportunities, including:
• Open Safe Zone Program: The PRIDE Center offers a 3-hour training aimed at creating safe spaces/zones on campus for people, organizations, and offices/departments. At the end of each training, individuals get "Safe Zone Stickers" which they can put on office doors/windows, water bottles, binders, laptops, etc., to show that they are safe spaces for LGBTQ students, staff, and faculty.
• The College of Education hosts the Annual Multicultural Education Conference. Over the years this annual event has provided an opportunity for Sacramento State faculty, students, and local educators to join in their ongoing efforts to promote educational excellence, social justice, and equity in the region's K-12 schools. Past conference themes have highlighted issues affecting California’s historically underserved students (low income, English learners, and culturally different populations).
• Sacramento State hosts an international conference on genocide in conjunction with the Ethnic Studies Department at California State University, Sacramento, American University of Nigeria, the Center for Genocide and Holocaust Studies at Sonoma State University, Global Majority Peace Organization, and the Friends of Rwanda Association (FORA) in Sacramento. This conference brings together notable experts, concerned global citizens, and members of the University Community to confront one of the world’s most pressing issues.
• Sacramento State hosted the Alternative Dispute Resolution and Peace Studies in Africa conference. A report on the proceedings of the Fourth International Africa Peace and Conflict Resolution Conference held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 25 and 26 July 2014, hosted by the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes and the Center for African Peace and Conflict Resolution, California State University, Sacramento.
Finally, Sacramento State is in the process of creating an Antiracism and Inclusive Campus Plan, as a commitment to being an antiracism and inclusive campus where all students, faculty, and staff, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and other marginalized identities, belong and can engage as their true authentic selves. The plan will be created through a structured collective process where individuals from across campus will provide input and advise on various action items to ensure we reach our institutional goals. Two of the subcommittees to this process are focused on antiracism learning and literacy and antiracism curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, respectively, and will likely help our campus develop a strategic plan with regard to our learning and training opportunities.