Mission

The Office of Inclusive Excellence Education & Development (OIEED) promotes self-awareness and critical consciousness through education and development initiatives that support skill-building efforts, leading to greater levels of inclusion on campus.

OIEED focuses on two areas:

  • Faculty, Staff and students personal and professional development, with an emphasis on Inclusive Excellence core constructs
  • Bias education, response and prevention processes for the campus community

Through interactive workshops, educational development, and exposure & access to resources, OIEED seeks to:

  1. Expand one’s critical consciousness (moving from awareness to equitable action) about the complexities of constructs related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  2. Engage individuals in critical reflection and dialogue to deepen one’s understanding of self and others’ perspectives, experiences, and behaviors.
  3. Support establishing and practicing anti-bias and inclusivity skills to engage in positive cross-cultural engagement across identities in the classroom and workplace settings.

Operating Terms

In addition to terms and definitions that offer guidance to the Elon community as we strive for inclusive excellence, OIEED uses the following terms and definitions to inform working toward its mission.

  1. Critical Consciousness – Informed by the work of educational theorist and scholar, Paulo Freire, Critical consciousness is having the ability to recognize the existence of complex systems inequity in society, how these systems affect our identities and experiences [at Elon], and how to act to create equitable change.
  2. Education – the process of increasing others’ knowledge and understanding of concepts, theories, histories, and relationships related to equity and inclusion.
  3. Development – the process of further supporting others to perform duties while feeling valued in their identities.