Ensuring Belonging for All
As campus activity resumes, EDI welcomes faculty back to the U
This fall, EDI invites the entire campus to avail themselves of our many resources.
Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion • August 7, 2023
This summer has been one of the hottest on record as a heat wave blanketed much of the country over the last few months—causing giant saguaro cacti to collapse in Phoenix, power demand to soar in Texas (as everyone used their ACs), and ocean waters to warm dangerously in the east. But with September right around the corner, the University of Utah campus is again abuzz with energy and activity as classes start, Utah athletics kicks into high gear, and mountain fall colors are just a few weeks away.
Though temps remain high—we hope the cool autumn weather is just around the corner, too. And as students and staff all return to campus this week, we can’t help but be excited for the start of the fall semester.
For new and returning faculty, whose schedules are currently filled with department meetings, new course prep, and finding their classrooms on campus (or reacquainting themselves with Zoom), the beginning of the semester can sometimes be a mixed blessing. The division for Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (EDI) is excited to welcome you to campus and is dedicated to helping you find your professional, scholarly, and collegial community and home here at the U.
We invite you to join us at our various events all year long—from the Welcome Back Bash at the beginning of the fall semester, to our ongoing Reframing the Conversation series (in partnership with the Hinckley Institute of Politics), to our annual Martin Luther King Jr. Week (this year will be our 40th anniversary!), to Black History Month and our EDI graduation in the spring! There’s also MEDiversity Week, the Day of Disability and Neurodiversity, and U Remembers (our annual Holocaust remembrance) in the fall, Pow Wow and Women’s Week in the spring, and our Juneteenth commemoration in the summer. All events are free and open to the public and offer an opportunity to meet with colleagues and other members of the campus and community, and connect with your friends in EDI.
We also invite you to reach out to our many cultural and resource centers, including the American Indian Resource Center (AIRC), the Black Cultural Center (BCC), the Center for Equity and Student Belonging (CESB), and the Dream Center. These centers are the heart of EDI and often the first point of contact with our students on campus.
In EDI, we are dedicated to inspiring our communities, encouraging research and innovation that benefits the whole state, and creating meaningful impact that leads to positive, powerful change for everyone. As the 2023 academic year begins, we want to encourage everyone to stay connected, stay hydrated, and join EDI in fostering belonging for every member of our campus.