SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 — UTSA’s senior leadership team today announced the adoption of a new institutional statement affirming the university’s commitment to inclusive excellence.
“This statement is the product of months of effort on the part of many individuals, which began before my arrival with foundational work done by the Provost’s Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council,” said Vice President for Inclusive Excellence Myron Anderson. “It recognizes UTSA’s heritage is woven into the very fabric of our institution, and reaffirms the inclusive excellence ecosystem that we are cultivating today.”
The statement’s development was overseen by UTSA’s Inclusive Excellence Advisory Board comprised of student, faculty and staff representatives. Over the past several months, the statement was reviewed by numerous groups on and off-campus to incorporate a broad spectrum of thoughts, says Anderson.
John Phillip Santos, University Distinguished Scholar in Mestizo Cultural Studies in the Honors College and poet laureate, played a key role in composing the statement. Santos sought to incorporate the unique way that UTSA’s mission is interwoven with San Antonio’s history.
“UTSA was born from a uniquely diverse and inclusive American city,” said Santos. “Our university has a special mission to link that history to our nation’s future, and to make this a place where that direction is affirmed.”
Anderson emphasizes that UTSA’s inclusivity statement is intended to go hand-in-hand with the university’s mission and core values. “My sincerest thanks go to everyone who participated in this project and believed in its importance,” he said. “It will leave a lasting legacy at UTSA.”
⇒ Explore the Office of Inclusive Excellence.
UTSA’s Inclusivity Statement reads :
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to ending generations of discrimination and inequity. UTSA, a premier university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
The statement now appears alongside UTSA’s mission, vision, core values and destinations on the university’s website.
