The Student Services Division of the University of Nevada, Reno sets itself apart as exemplary in the way we help every member of our learning community to be successful. Convinced that the most important learning comes from the personal encounter and joint work of professional staff and students, Student Services provides a quality learning environment, encourages open research, values the pursuit of knowledge throughout lifelong and provide collaborative programs and services.
We must continue to strive for an inclusive community that embraces all its members, offers equal opportunities for all and actively encourages all voices to be heard. Everyone should be welcomed and treated with dignity and respect, and each person’s story should be honored. In doing so, our goal is to develop a diverse campus climate and promote a safe and hospitable environment that goes beyond a statement of good intentions and uplifting principles.
In fulfilling our responsibility to help graduates succeed in a diverse global environment, Student Services staff are educators and leaders in diversifying the University. We are dedicated to the following principles and actions that will help us achieve our vision.
Guiding principles
- Student Services at the University of Nevada at Reno will foster inclusion in a learning environment that fosters dialogue and free inquiry within the boundaries of courtesy, understanding and respect both in and out of the classroom.
- Social justice is at the heart of the mission of Student Services and embodies the essential principles of equity and access to all opportunities in society in accordance with democratic principles and respect for all people and all points of view. .
- Student Services will conduct an ongoing assessment of our own ability to identify and respond to issues affecting the campus climate. We seek to learn by leading and collaborating with all members of our University community.
- Student Services aims to engage members of our community as active and informed citizens in a multicultural world and recognizes the diversity of backgrounds and ideas as essential to academic excellence.
- Student Services believe that those whose education was founded on mutual understanding and respect for human diversity are best prepared to contribute to the creation of a just and equitable society.
- Student Services will ensure that all programs, services and office environments are welcoming and capable of helping anyone, regardless of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, national or geographic origin, ability or socio-economic status.
Results
- Each student services department will develop and maintain work environments considered to be welcoming, inclusive and supportive.
- Student services will encourage and promote cultural competence in a safe environment to learn freely and challenge each other. Cultural competence does not mean that you are an authority of every culture. It means that you respect cultural differences, are ready to learn, and realize that there are many ways of seeing the world.
- Inclusive programs and services are the responsibility of Student Services staff.
- Each student services department will design, co-sponsor and / or implement at least one program each semester specifically designed to promote social justice, cultural competence and inclusion.
- All Student Services websites and social media will be accessible to everyone. The programs will be designed universally.
- Student Services will be aware of inclusion and cultural differences needs when organizing events.
- Student Services is committed to recruiting a diverse candidate pool for all positions that become available and to hiring qualified candidates who reflect the diversity of our student body in order to better serve the students of the university and to work continuously. to creating an inclusive and welcoming environment.
- Student Services research committees will reflect the diversity of members chosen to sit on the committee.
- All levels of recruitment and outreach for Student Services research and research committees will actively engage in outreach efforts to ensure a diverse candidate pool for all posted positions.
- Each office will develop criteria to assess applicants’ ability to understand and support an inclusive campus culture.
- Student Services will reward departments for their outstanding progress in creating an inclusive and inviting climate at the annual retreat and other division meetings and publications.
- Each department / office will actively tackle the issues that create exclusionary environments.
- Student Services will integrate diversity and inclusion into annual performance reviews and annual reviews to assess employees’ ability to meet these goals.
- Student Services staff will actively seek out cultural competency opportunities to include webinars, campus discussions, and campus events / conferences.
- Student services departments will implement at least one training opportunity, per year, designed for their staff to increase awareness and better understanding of inclusion and social justice.
- Student services departments will coordinate training on sexual harassment, training on disability awareness and training on cultural skills to ensure the use of best practices and inclusion in the workplace.
- All student services staff need to broaden their knowledge and skills to serve an increasingly diverse student body and prepare all students to become effective global citizens. This will be done through research, training, conferences and outreach with the support of the student services administration.
- Student Services will promote an inclusive curriculum; embrace and integrate a climate of cultural competence; building and thus maintaining safe spaces in the classroom and on campus.
- Student Services will promote cultural competence in education across all curricula in all departments and at all levels.
- Each member of Student Services will foster and maintain a supportive mentoring environment that improves retention of professionals in the area of Student Services.
- Student Services staff will research and share best practices with colleagues on other campuses. These best practices will be brought back to the University of Nevada, Reno and shared with colleagues.
- Student Services will seek opportunities to collaborate with local, national and international organizations promoting the benefits and pathways of higher education, thereby ensuring an inclusive and culturally competent academic body of faculty, staff and students.