The Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Community Partnerships (DICP) at Michigan State University aims to increase individuals’ and organizations’ capacity to implement equitable policies, procedures, and classroom and organizational practices for meeting the academic and social needs of a diverse PreK-21 student body and workforce. Our purpose is to provide professional education that assists educators, community organizations and corporations in creating and sustaining equitable communities by centering issues of race, culture, power and privilege in learning and work environments. Stakeholders receive instruction from Michigan State University experts who have in-depth experience connecting research and practice in these areas.
WHAT WE DO
Participants examine issues of culture, power and privilege to promote sustainable change in their school communities and organizations through:
- Professional education on culturally responsive leadership and instructional practices
- Connecting research to practice (i.e. praxis) for PreK-21 educational leaders, staff, and teachers
- Professional education for developing and sustaining diverse and inclusive work environments
WHO WE SERVE
- PreK-12 administrators, practitioners, and staff
- Higher education faculty, administrators, and staff
- Community organizations
- Corporations
OUR DEFINITION OF EQUITY
We define equity as a measure of fairness and justice by meeting the needs of individuals and groups. Educational equity, then, is achieved through assessing needs and implementing policies, practice, and programs that eliminate barriers to success for students of historically and traditionally marginalized groups (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, class, ability, religion, sexuality). Similarly, achieving workplace equity requires assessing needs and implementing policies, practices and programs that eliminate barriers for employees to have similar access to career opportunities.
