August 29, 2022
Letter from Be Stoney on 2022-23 diversity and inclusion initiatives
Hello, K-State nation:
I want to extend a warm welcome to the K-State community! To our first-year students, your year will go by quickly as you embark upon new adventures in college learning. You will experience new and critical transitions while accruing new friends and learning new skills that will enhance your abilities to apply knowledge in many ways. K-State is dedicated to providing a challenging and rigorous curriculum that helps each student develop and progress at an appropriate pace. Our university offers a conducive environment for all students to succeed.
To our returning students, welcome back to K-State. As you know, as an institution, we offer brilliant opportunities that allow our students to do great things during their time at K-State.
Ultimately as a collective community, we are judged by our actions that will enable us to learn and connect beyond race, culture, LGBTQ+ and abilities. Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, or DEIB, is our standard way of connecting and reflects the idea that all community members are welcomed, valued and free to be their authentic selves. We must stand by these truths as a university and members of this great institution.
Our priority goals for 2022-23 are to establish:
• DEIB Student Advisory Board — Create a board for students who serve as liaisons, advisors and problem-solvers to the vice president for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. The DEIB Student Advisory Board comprises a group of dynamic and engaged undergraduate and graduate students from various backgrounds and departments. Each member should have a proven track record of caring deeply about DEIB and working to change the institution for the better. Look for a call for applications in K-State Today.
• Student-Led Signature Dialogue — DEIB thought leadership for a national and global audience to address the need of the K-State community to learn, engage and participate in thoughtful discussions about DEIB issues.
• DEIB Voices — Center the diverse voices and experiences of people throughout our K-State community to highlight essential contributions to DEIB. The community of representatives of students, faculty, staff, K-State Police Department, Lafene Health Center and Lafene Counseling and Psychological Services and other members of the K-State community.
• DEIB University Dashboard — Establish an online dashboard that will provide user-friendly visualizations of events in each college.
• Enhance Communication — As we strive to make communication a priority in the office, the goal is to lift every voice across the community and campus. The office will share quarterly updates to the K-State community as part of our enhanced line of communication efforts and essential work at K-State.
• DEIB Award of Excellence — The Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Office will launch an inaugural award program honoring students, faculty, staff, extension, and innovative programming and programs that nurtured a culture of belonging and emotional growth by advocating for and advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging practices on K-State's Manhattan, Salina, Olathe and Global campuses and Extension offices. The universitywide program will recognize the voices for a more inclusive K-State.
Students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to participate in the Indigenous People's Day Conference, "Indigenous Kansas: Past, Present, and Future," on Oct. 10 and the sixth annual KSUnite, "A Journey to Justice: Bridging Distances and Differences," on Nov. 14-16. More information to follow on these two events.
Welcome to K-State, where we continuously strive to be a more inclusive university.
Sincerely,
Dr. Be Stoney, Interim Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer