Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg has changed its organizational structure regarding inclusion and diversity. The university, where only 3 percent of the undergraduate student body is Black, according to the latest Department of Education data, has established a new President’s Inclusion and Diversity Executive Council that will oversee all of the university’s diversity efforts.
A senior level adviser to the president will be appointed as interim vice provost for inclusion and diversity. Six university employees will be designated as inclusion and diversity coordinators.
Timothy Sands, president of Virginia Tech, stated, “This new organizational model is simply a scaffold; success in distinguishing Virginia Tech as the exemplar for the modern land-grant research university will only come with the efforts of every student, staff and faculty member to advance a bold and reinvigorated inclusion agenda. A commitment to inclusion as an integral and inseparable element of institutional excellence is a requisite characteristic for attracting talent, for assembling world-class research teams, and for fulfilling our engagement mission.”
Senior vice president and provost Mark McNamee, added: “We have made progress on many fronts, but we must and can do more to ensure that Virginia Tech is a place that attracts, nurtures, and retains outstanding faculty, staff, students, and administrators from all sectors of our increasingly diverse regional and global society. Creating a culture of inclusion continues to emerge as a compelling strategy for long-term, sustainable progress.”
