Education

• 1: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Plan

1 - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Plan

Over its first two hundred years, the University of Virginia has been at the forefront of producing global citizen leaders, groundbreaking research and scholarship, and world-class patient care. As the University enters its third century, we continuously seek to define and redefine ourselves, motivated by our shared passion for discovery, innovation, community, service, and social justice. One of the University’s top priorities is to create a living, learning, and work environment that supports—and challenges—our academic community. To achieve its mission, the University must be a place in which all faculty, students, and staff are active participants in its work, where those groups historically excluded from participation in University life are present in numbers that prevent isolation of the spirit and of the mind, and where each individual is conscious of how they contribute to the creation and dissemination of knowledge that enhances the well-being of our community, our state, our nation, and the world.

Listed below are specific details about how the University of Virginia (UVA) is engaging in a meaningful way with respect to DEI, as well as the project plans to ensure that historically underrepresented groups are a collaborative part of our project.

Inclusion of persons from groups underrepresented in STEM as PI, co-PI, and/or senior personnel

• UVA seeks to hire persons from underrepresented groups and will seek representative applicants for the senior personnel in this effort.

• The UVA’s diversity action plan includes actions steps and metrics to provide training and support to create processes that mitigate bias and are more equitable and inclusive. In 2021, the University created an Inclusive Excellence Planning Committee to assess inclusivity, which suggested regular professional development opportunities to all provost office units (including the Biocomplexity Institute), and to offer leadership development opportunities around diversity, equity and inclusion. UVA has a goal of attracting and retaining greater numbers of individuals from underrepresented populations. UVA’s Racial Equity Task Force (RETF) aligned initiatives with the University's Inclusive Excellence framework and the University's 2030 Strategic Plan to orient and embed the initiatives in the institutional operations.

• Mentoring and support programs to increase retention include the Division for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the UVA, which provides outreach, resources, and support for inclusive hiring practices for departments and faculty.

Inclusion of persons from groups underrepresented in STEM as student researchers or post-doctoral researchers

• We will seek representative applicants for the postdoctoral position in this effort.

• The Office of Diversity Programs at UVA cultivates a rich, inclusive and supportive learning environment, where the identities, perspectives, and views of all graduate students and postdoctoral scholars are affirmed to establish dignity and pride to thrive at the University of Virginia. The Office of Diversity Programs is a subsidiary of the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs (OGPA) and serves as a resource hub for information to connect students, staff, and faculty to opportunities by offering recruitment and retention, developmental training, and community engagement and outreach programs.

Enhancement/collaboration with existing diversity programs at your home organization and/or nearby organizations

The University of Virginia’s Racial Equity Task Force (RETF) aligned initiatives with the University's Inclusive Excellence framework and the University's 2030 Strategic Plan to orient and embed the initiatives in the institutional operations. The Division for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office at the University of Virginia offers training on education and prevention related to discrimination and harassment, sexual misconduct, mandated reporting.

University efforts located in or benefiting underserved communities

• The Center for Community Partnerships at University of Virginia serves as both a front door to the University for community members and a collaborative space for UVA’s existing community efforts. The center is anchored by UVA’s Equity Center, and is staffed by members of the University’s offices for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Academic Outreach; and Community Partnerships at UVA Health.

Implementation of evidence-based, diversity-focused education programs

The project senior personnel and student researchers will participate in the offerings and training provided by the University of Virginia.

• The Division for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office at the University of Virginia offers training on education and prevention related to discrimination and harassment, sexual misconduct, mandated reporting, UVA System’s Equity and Title IX policies and procedures, and more. 

• UVA requires employees to complete training in regard to its Preventing and Addressing Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation (PADHR) and Title IX and Sexual Misconduct (Title IX) policies and processes. New employees receive the training and are required to complete it every two years. A separate training is provided for employees in supervisory positions. These trainings are aimed at ensuring every employee understands their rights and responsibility with respect to discrimination, harassment, retaliation and sexual misconduct, understands how to identify, address and report potential prohibited conduct, how to intervene as bystanders, and the process followed in response to a complaint. Students also receive similar training with regard to sexual misconduct.

• UVA requires all employees to complete a “DEI and Cultural Competence” learning module and offers more than 80 additional DEI-related learning modules.

Soliciting bids for supplies, services and equipment from minority owned, woman owned and veteran owned businesses

• The University is committed to: (1) enhancing successful business relationships between small, minority-owned, women-owned, and otherwise disadvantaged business enterprises (S/M/W/DBEs) and through the implementation of programs that requires a consistent and high level of participation from all University schools and departments; and (2) actively seeking goods and services from small, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses in support of the Commonwealth’s small, minority-owned, and women-owned (SWaM) program.

• The University of Virginia increases business opportunities for small, minority-owned, and women-owned business enterprises (S/M/WBE’s) through its Supplier Diversity Program.