Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion FAQ
Fostering a vibrant intellectual community demands an environment that uplifts and supports everyone, because we each have our own unique perspectives to share. At Butler, we strive to create this environment so that all feel valued and supported while learning and working here.
Learn more about DEI and Butler
Does Butler’s strategic vision include an emphasis on diversity, equity, and/or inclusion?
Yes! Butler University’s Strategic Priority 5 is to create an intentionally diverse, inclusive, and equitable learning and working environment by:
- Strengthening institutional capacity to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion,
- Recruiting, retaining, and cultivating students, faculty, and staff from marginalized and underrepresented backgrounds and identities,
- Fostering a climate of respect among all students, faculty, staff, and administrators from a range of diverse backgrounds, ideas, and perspectives, and
- Advancing inclusion through the curriculum, co-curricular learning, scholarship, and community engagement.
Consistent with Strategic Priority 5, the annual Faculty Activity Report now requires faculty to provide evidence of continual learning and contributions to our university’s efforts to enhance compositional diversity and create and maintain an inclusive working and learning environment in performance evaluations. This gives department chairs, program directors, and college deans the mandate to evaluate each faculty member’s level of engagement with Strategic Priority 5. Faculty and staff development in areas of teaching, service and scholarship that support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) should be demonstrated in the annual Faculty Activity Report (FAR).
The resources found below support faculty and staff efforts to contribute to Strategic Priority 5.
- President’s Council on DEI—A council including nearly 20 faculty, students, staff and alumni are serving in an advisory capacity to the President on matters related to diversity, equity and inclusion at the University (Spring 2021). The DEI Innovation Funds are issued under this council and responsible for piloting new initiatives such as the following:
- DEI Innovation Fund—A $200,000 fund was established under the auspices of the DEI Council to engage and support our campus community in developing ideas that support a more inclusive, diverse, and equitable learning and working environment at Butler. Nine proposals were approved for a total of $115,000 in 2021 (Spring 2021). For more information, contact co-chairs of the DEI Council, Dr. Terri Jett and Dr. Frank Ross.
- DEI-Focused Roles in Academic Affairs and Colleges—To strengthen institutional infrastructure and further capacity-building in DEI work, the following directorships were created (Fall 2021) with funding from the DEI Innovation Fund. Under the leadership of these faculty, numerous initiatives that give faculty opportunities for engagement in DEI work have been created. Further there are pre-existing initiatives and programs in each college that engage the Indianapolis community in addressing issues of inequity and inclusivity. We cannot list them all here due to space constraints, so please reach out to them if you are interested in learning more:
- Academic Affairs—Dr. Su-Mei Ooi
- College of Education—Dr. Susan Adams
- College of Communication—Dr. Lindsay Ems
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences—Dr. Elise Edwards
- Lacy School of Business—Dr. Brandy Mmbaga
- College of Pharmacy—Dr. Ogbonnaya Omenka
- Jordan College of the Arts—Dr. Derek Reid
- Efroymson Diversity Center—A successful search for a new Director for the Diversity Center resulted in the appointment of Randall Ojeda to this important position (Fall 2021). The DC facilitates training, discussions, and events for students and serves as an open and inclusive symbol to the Butler community.
- Diversity Center Faculty Fellow—In collaboration with the Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies program, the Efroymson Diversity Center now has a Faculty Fellow who will integrate the academic perspective into student life for student DEI programming (Spring 2022). For more information, contact the Director of the Diversity Center, Randall Ojeda.
- DEI-focused Faculty-in-Residence—A realigned position created a DEI-focused Faculty-in-Residence to provide greater support for first-year residential students from marginalized/underrepresented backgrounds and identities (Fall 2021). For more information, contact Residence Life.
- The DEI Inventory—An audit of DEI initiatives across the campus was conducted in order to better understand what our community needs are and what programming we should support. Please reach out to the VP for Student Life for this information if interested. (Summer 2021).
- The Butler University Fact book—Produced annually by the Office of Institutional Research & Assessment this comprehensive compilation of official student and faculty data, including data on BIPOC and first-generation student enrollment, serves as an important resource for recruitment planning and programs that serve underrepresented groups on our campus. For more information, contact Dr. Amia Foston.
- Inclusion Advocate Program—Our efforts to diversify the faculty and staff body continue with the IA Program that Dr. Terri Jett began in order to train Inclusion Advocates to ensure an inclusive hiring process in 2019. The program was expanded in Fall 2021 to include an online DEI training platform, faculty development opportunities and community meetings. The IA Program is now being developed for staff, and this phase of the work will be led by Human Resources. Calls to enroll in the training program are launched at the beginning of every Fall semester (Fall 2019, 2021). For more information, contact Dr. Su-Mei Ooi.
- Search and Welcome Committee Online DEI Training—This online training platform was developed to support Butler University’s capacity to recruit, retain and cultivate faculty, staff and students from marginalized and underrepresented backgrounds and identities with the addition of resources to support a positive onboarding experience. All faculty and staff who want to better understand how to undertake inclusive searches and contribute to retention efforts can now self-enroll in this online DEI training. This online program is now being developed for staff, and this phase of the work will be led by Human Resources (Fall 2021). For more information, contact Dr. Su-Mei Ooi.
- Affinity Group Program—The Affinity Group Program was created to deepen a sense of belonging and to support the onboarding of new faculty and staff by bringing together individuals with similar backgrounds, identities and/or interests. It acknowledges that faculty and staff often operate in a silo world and provides funding to create opportunities to break down these silos. Applications are open every Spring semester for funding to support activities and dialogue across areas. Applications are on a rolling basis in the Spring semester of each academic year, and you can apply here (Spring 2022). For more information, contact Dr. Su-Mei Ooi.
- Hub for Black Affairs and Community Engagement—The Hub for Black Affairs and Community Engagement was established in 2020 to address systemic and institutionalized racism from the vantage point of the Black intellectual tradition. It honors and reflects the University’s founding mission. Director of the Hub for Black Affairs and Community Engagement is Dr. Terri Jett. The mission statement of the Hub is as follows:
- We exist to center and elevate the collective Black voice and experience at Butler University.
- We strive to lead the disruption and continued dismantling of systemic racism.
- We will cultivate the collective Black strengths to build and maintain a more inclusive community.
- Desmond Tutu Peace Lab —Created in 2018 to address conflicts and injustices that are prevalent in the U.S. and beyond, the DTPL works to develop and disseminate approaches to peace education, leadership, policy, practice, and advocacy. The DTPL’s student-led Think Tank, community outreach activities, study tours and other programs support the growth of our students’ capacity for activism, allyship, knowledge production, and leadership around issues of inequity and injustice. Local community activists, organizers and leaders are invited to campus to make presentations, share their work related to peace and justice and find partners for future collaboration. The Peace Lab also works collaboratively with community organizations to connect area youth with Butler students, faculty and programs. For more information, contact the director Dr. Siobhan McEvoy-Levy.
- Center for Faith and Vocation—The CFV houses several programs that support religious diversity and a climate of mutual respect and tolerance, and serves as a space for students, faculty, and staff from all religious and non-religious backgrounds to engage with one another and the wider community. Programs include the New View Film Series, Social Justice and Diversity Vocation Fellowship, Butler Seminar on Religion and Global Affairs, and the Interfaith Council. For more information, contact the director, Dr. Daniel Myers.
- Black Alumni Association—Through partnerships with the Efroymson Diversity Center, the Black Student Union and Bust the B.U.B.B.L.E., the Black Alumni Association (BAA) provides consistent and relevant alumni engagement opportunities for Black graduates whose primary goal is to assist current Black students reach their educational and professional aspirations.
- Butler Latinx Alumni Association—Students took the important initiative to establish the Butler Latinx Alumni Association, a significant contribution to Butler’s efforts to build an environment of belonging for our Latinx community through a variety of social, cultural, and educational programming with the ultimate goal of assisting Butler student success and to further strengthen the BU Latinx community. (Fall 2021).
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Alumni Association—strives to foster interaction between Butler University and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender alumni, students, faculty and staff. In addition to supporting the Alumni Association’s mission to promote and foster the interests and continued excellence of Butler University, the LGBT Alumni Association promotes and supports the LGBT Alumni Association Promotion of Diversity scholarship, and advises the University, when requested, on LGBT issues.
- Asian and Pacific Islander Alumni Association—Students took the important initiative to establish the Asian and Pacific islander Alumni Association, a significant contribution to Butler’s efforts to build an environment of belonging for our API community (forthcoming, Fall 2022).
- Deliberative Dialogues—The Efroymson Diversity Center and Center for Faith and Vocation have collaborated to open space for discourse on difficult issues related to inclusivity and equity and to increase interaction between students with different identities and backgrounds. For more information, please contact Daniel Myers and Randall Ojeda.
- Butler University Advisor Training—All advisors will soon have access to the Butler University Advisor Training Canvas site—a central repository for academic advisor training and reference materials. This advisor training will include content that supports faculty in meeting diversifying student needs. All faculty will be notified of this resource when it is ready to be launched. For more information or input, contact the Center for Academic Success and Exploration.
- Inclusive Pedagogy Workshops—Following a survey and verbal feedback gathered from Collaborative Conversations and IA community meetings, the Office of the Provost will develop a series of faculty development workshops focused specifically on supporting faculty in providing students with an inclusive learning environment across different disciplines. The purpose of this inclusive pedagogy series is to support the academic success of students with historically marginalized and underrepresented identities and backgrounds at Butler University. These workshops will be launched in Fall 2022. Contact Dr. Su-Mei Ooi for more information.
- Faculty Food-for-Thought/Brown Bag Series—Multiple events through the Faculty Development Program are DEI-related, with presentations concerning teaching, advising, and scholarship, and may be approved as IA-designated events required for Inclusion Advocate certification. For more information or input, contact the director, Dr. Mandy Hall, or the assistant director, Dr. Chris Bungard.
- Student Climate Study—A student-focused climate survey has been launched to help us better understand how students experience the educational opportunities we provide at Butler, and the kinds of challenges that they face. This is essential to our commitment to consistently re-evaluate our programs and initiatives in response to student feedback.
- Faculty and Staff Climate Study—A climate survey gauging staff and faculty sentiment will be administered in April 2022 to help us better understand what things work or don’t work and how to better support all faculty and staff in the kinds of challenges that they face. This is also essential to our commitment to consistently re-evaluate our policies and practices.
- Development of Shared DEI Language—Work on shared DEI language, including a Statement of Inclusive Excellence that has been inspired by the groundwork laid by previous DEI leaders of our University and the founding principles of Butler University, will foreground our commitment to social justice, intercultural development and shared responsibility and serve as a guide as to how we will continue DEI work for the future.
Advance teaching and scholarship that promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Engage students in learning outside of the classroom that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion. Create opportunities for Butler students, faculty, and staff to advance DEI through meaningful engagement in the community.
- Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program—RGSS offers all students the opportunity to question and challenge the power structures that perpetuate privilege and inequality, providing a formalized setting for students to interrogate identity and agency locally and globally, and across time and space. It serves as an important intellectual home for students with marginalized and underrepresented identities and backgrounds and helps to build a community to which they can belong. Faculty affiliates of RGSS also provide the intellectual leadership of our University’s DEI work. For more information, contact the current director, Dr. Terri Carny
- Social Justice and Diversity Core Requirement—This important component of the Core Curriculum exposes students to critical scholarship on the root causes of marginalization and inequity and how to counter it and serves as a means to advance teaching that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion so that students from historically excluded and continually marginalized identities can find representation in the curriculum throughout Butler University (Fall 2020). For more information, contact the director, Dr. Terri Carney.
- Global and Historical Studies Core Requirement—This long-standing Core Curriculum requirement continues to promote inclusion and equity by providing excellent opportunities for students to recognize how human societies and cultures have historically been in conversation with one another, and how human interactions have shaped diverse identities and inequities. Because GHS courses have long addressed issues that speak to the Social Justice and Diversity learning outcomes, many also have SJD designation. For more information, contact the director, Dr. Ageeth Sluis.
- International Studies Program—International Studies is an interdisciplinary program designed to give students an awareness of the diversity, complexity and interdependence of the world community, and to provide them with the necessary background to understand and analyze the political, economic, social, and cultural aspects of current world problems and issues. For more information, contact the director, Dr. Fait Muedini.
- Asian Studies Minor Program—This interdisciplinary minor contributes to the promotion of diversity by giving students the opportunity to complete an academic program that encourages them to be curious about the diverse societies of Asia. For more information, contact the director, Dr. Zachary Scarlett.
- Center for Citizenship and Community—The CCC promotes civic engagement and helps students discover new perspectives, explore ways to sustain healthy communities, and fully consider what it means to be local and global citizens by supporting Indianapolis Community Requirement (ICR) courses that work with diverse local organizations. For more information, contact the Interim Faculty Director, Mary Gospel, or assistant director, Hanako Gavia.
- Center for Global Education—The CGE works to develop a community of global citizens with strong intercultural competencies at Butler University through transformative study away programs, and intentional engagement with faculty to internationalize the curriculum. For more information contact the Director of Global Engagement, Jill McKinney; the Associate Director for Incoming International Exchanges & International Student Services, Bobbie Gibson; the Associate Director for Faculty-led Programs, Dena Mulligan; Associate Director for Study Abroad, Calie Dickey.
- Center For Urban Ecology Indy Food Access Research Project—The Indy Food Access research project provides students the opportunity to work on research that explores how the context, perspectives, goals, and characteristics of local organizations and their leadership structure influences approaches to combating food insecurity and impacts to solve challenges of food availability, access, and sovereignty. For more information, contact Dr. Katherine Novak.
- Internal Grant Opportunities—Butler provides faculty and academic staff numerous internal grant opportunities to support scholarship that advances inclusion, engages community partners in that research, and support the development of co-curricular activities and programs. Internal grant opportunities also support faculty seeking external grants for initiatives that advance inclusion and equity within and beyond the Butler community.
- Help is on the Way—To support departments and programs in efforts to align their curriculum to Butler’s Strategic Initiatives 1.2, 1.3, 5.2 and 5.3, the Office of the Provost has provided funds to match to internal or external partners that support departmental-level work. Proposals should reflect changes that ensure the curriculum, pedagogy, and programs foster a climate of respect among all students and faculty from a range of diverse backgrounds, ideas, and perspectives; provide co-curricular, community engagement and student research opportunities that advance inclusion; meet the evolving needs of our students, their future employers, and society at large; expand and enhance the practices that drive successful student outcome; and enhance existing and establish new areas of high impact practices. Proposals are welcome from across campus and should be submitted directly to the Office of the Provost at provost@butler.edu.
Where can I find the most up-to-date information about university-wide DEI programs, resources, and opportunities are there at Butler?
For the most up-to-date information, please visit Butler’s DEI site.
What DEI-related wellness resources are available to faculty and staff?
A list of resources can be found at the DEI Wellness Resources page.
What is the Inclusion Advocate program and how do I get involved?
To learn more about the IA program, please visit The IA program site..
Are there funds to support the development of new DEI initiative?
Yes! Members of the Butler community are invited to submit proposals to the DEI Innovation Fund, which provides investments in university-wide or unit-specific initiatives that advance diversity, equity and inclusion Learn more about DEI funding opportunities.
I would like to be a more inclusive teacher; what support is there for me to do so?
Inclusive Pedagogy Workshops are currently being developed to support faculty in providing academic support for students with historically marginalized and underrepresented identities and backgrounds. Contact Dr. Su-Mei Ooi for more information.