At the fourth annual Inclusive Excellence Research Reception on April 16, Oregon State leaders emphasized the university’s commitment to inclusive excellence and its importance in successfully following through on the goals of the university’s strategic plan, Prosperity Widely Shared.
As a land grant institution, President Jayathi Murthy said, OSU’s central value proposition lies in inclusive excellence.
“It makes us relevant; it makes us rooted in our communities and in our state; and it answers, I think in a way that nothing else can, the value that public universities bring to the communities they serve,” she told the roughly 75 OSU employees assembled in the Memorial Union Horizon Room. “What we do here is incredibly important. It’s a part of our mission, a part of who we are, a part of what we have always done and what we will always do as we move forward.”
Similar comments were shared by Irem Tumer, vice president for research and innovation; Belinda Batten, interim provost and executive vice president; and Scott Vignos, chief diversity officer. A concurrent event also took place at OSU-Cascades in Bend.
Just a few months ago, Vignos said, some OSU community members were wondering whether the event should proceed, given the current political climate. But faculty and researchers gave a resounding yes, highlighting that inclusive excellence is core to how they make meaning of teaching, how they approach research and how they engage with students and communities, he said.
“If you trace the history of this (event), it also tracks along with this growing understanding and recognition of the importance of considering the breadth of the communities we serve in the research we do, and how we translate the discoveries we’re making into real benefit that matters to individuals and communities,” Vignos said
Advancing the goals of Prosperity Widely Shared requires “an unwavering commitment to expanding access and opportunity, and that we demand excellence, pursue rigor and engage fully with the diverse voices that make up OSU and the communities we serve,” he said.
The event also included lightning talks by two researchers whose work focuses on underrepresented voices.
Ivan Carbajal in OSU’s School of Psychological Science shared his recent study that found the field of cognitive psychology has a very poor track record for talking about race and racism or even including these factors in its critical analyses.
Carbajal found that the field of cognitive psychology doesn’t recognize racism as an issue that has a direct impact on people’s cognitive psychology, instead training researchers that everything is universal and failing to acknowledge the cognitive impacts of people’s experiences with racism.
And because the topic is not taken seriously, researchers who want to study it — particularly researchers of color — have been largely ignored by leading journals and relegated to smaller publications with less prestige and reach, he said.
The second presentation was by Lauren Grand with the OSU Extension Service, who spoke about the creation and growth of the Women Owning Woodlands Network (WOWNet) and its role in empowering women to thrive and find belonging in the traditionally male-dominated field of forest ownership and management.
The network has now been around for 20 years and each year hosts dozens of workshops, hikes and retreats aimed at building community among women forest owners as well as teaching forestry skills.
In addition to Carbajal and Grand, 80 research papers that highlight inclusive excellence were submitted by faculty across the university and are listed on the Inclusive Excellence Research Reception website.
Related Stories
