The EDI Executive Committee was created to inform, guide, and coordinate addressing racist policies and long-standing practices that perpetuate racism and inequity on our campus.

The committee examined institutional policies and practices that perpetuate racism, bias, and systemic inequity in the recruitment, hiring, and advancement of staff and faculty in order to inform hiring and retention initiatives and other actions that will build on previous diversity hiring efforts at the U. This process included an examination of applicable existing policy and practice, determining what policy(ies) could be written to actively disrupt everyday participation in the practices of exclusion, and sharing recommendations for new policies with a variety of constituents across the campus community.

June 2020

University of Utah Senior Leadership announced the launch of the EDI Executive Committee in a list of actions “aimed at creating an equitable, diverse and fully inclusive campus.” The Executive Committee’s work will be informed by members of the President’s Cabinet, who have been asked to identify policies and practices in their portfolios that may perpetuate systemic bias.

December 2020

Comprised of 20 faculty and administrative thought-leaders from across campus, the committee shared the four focus areas tasked by President Ruth Watkins. The four subcommittees determined the need for the following: racial and bias based trauma, pedagogical development, affinity groups, targeted recruiting of staff.

March 2021

The committee submitted its initial findings and recommendations to the President’s Cabinet in mid-March 2021. Its work will inform hiring and retention initiatives and other actions that will build on previous diversity hiring efforts at the U.

April 2021

The EDI Executive Committee Co-Chairs presented an update at the EDI Open House. This included an overview of their membership, recommendations, and next steps.