Office of Justice, Equity and Inclusion
The Office of Justice, Equity and Inclusion (OJEI) empowers individual members of the Dominican community in their efforts to create a just and humane campus; OJEI is dedicated to assisting the community in discovering how to live together, inclusively. The goal of the OJEI is to extend the benefits of diversity to all members of the Dominican community by working to equip students, faculty and staff for responsible global citizenship. OJEI's goals and mission are supported by the values of caring and compassion, welcoming and hospitality, confidentially and acceptance, fairness, continuous improvement and periodic review.
Led by the Vice President for Justice, Equity and Inclusion, the OJEI will:
- Promote the development of unified strategies to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion;
- Work collaboratively to leverage the assets and allies needed to support and empower multicultural students, faculty and staff;
- Monitor and assess Dominican University’s policies, procedures, governance regimes, and professional practices to ensure that they are inclusive, equitable and culturally competent;
- Work to ensure that the Dominican community is free from sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination; and
- Work collaboratively to ensure that all bias related behavior based on race, gender, sex, sexual identities/orientations, ethnicity, religion, disability, age, nationality and immigration status is challenged and extinguished.
Organizational strategies of the OJEI include:
- Building collaborations and partnerships to support diversity initiatives for all Dominican students;
- Developing innovative grant-funded projects in support of Dominican University’s Strategic Plan for Diversity;
- Engaging the Senior Leadership Team and their staff in projects that support diversity-related mission-critical goals and objectives;
- Supporting staff initiatives that promote cultural competency;
- Supporting faculty governance that promotes a climate for diversity, equity and inclusion in faculty hiring, promotion, and retention;
- Supporting initiatives that equip faculty for inclusive teaching and holistic advising;
- Promoting recognition for faculty and staff whose work successfully uses research-based strategies and best practices to improve recruitment, retention, and graduation; and, but not limited to
- Supporting campus climate initiatives and assessment protocols because how students, faculty and staff experience their campus influences student developmental outcomes and learning as well as faculty and staff retention.