What is Inclusive Excellence?
Our staff Tina Gutierez-Schmich was a 2011 MLK Award Winner.
According to the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), higher education institutions must fundamentally and comprehensively connect their educational quality and inclusion efforts to meet the demographic changes and global challenges facing our nation. To accomplish this, the AAC&U has proposed the concept of inclusive excellence to inform and guide institution efforts. Inclusive excellence involves a re-envisioning of both quality and diversity and is an alloy of both. It embraces expanded definitions and multiple ways of measuring excellence. It is a commitment to creating systems and structures that support engagement, learning, and achievement for all members of the community.
At CoDaC we advance inclusive excellence by deliberately linking the practice of critical thinking with an ethic of care. Critical thinking is the foundation of academic success. It involves a mindful process of inquiry where individuals examine their own and others’ assumptions, appraise evidence, and evaluate arguments in the pursuit of knowledge.
An ethic of care is a theory and practice based on the belief in the obligation, both individual and institutional, to establish and maintain relationships with others in the learning process. Embracing an ethic of care means taking responsibility for learning environments and caring about the impact of words and actions among diverse members of a learning community. Together, critical thinking and an ethic of care build an expanded and culturally responsive model of inclusive excellence.
