About the Center for Inclusive Excellence

Mission

The mission of the Center for Inclusive Excellence is to provide leadership for positive and equitable change that creates a welcoming and supportive environment for all persons at Gustavus. We are a student-centered department that partners with stakeholders (faculty, staff, students, alumni) to design activities that infuse into college life an acceptance and deep understanding for difference, identity, and belonging that is morally and socially just.

We achieve this by collaborating with curricular and co-curricular departments to create a learning environment that offers social and educational programs, as well as mentoring programs, for students. We also partner with faculty and staff to effectively support the academic and social adjustment of students from various backgrounds and traditions.

Belong Newsletter

Here you will find editions to the campuswide newsletter...BELONG. Rather than just focusing on events hosted by the CIE or DLC orgs (as well as other co-sponsoring campus partners), this new format hopes to engage more broadly with our campus community. The goal is to assist campus stakeholders (student orgs, academic programs, collaborative departmental events, etc.) in promoting/highlighting events and programs that may be of interest to the Gustavus community. It augments, but does not replace, existing communication channels (like Inside Gustavus, College Calendar, or The Gustavian Weekly). We also hope to keep interested members updated on the plethora of things that are happening within our community of belonging, especially if they were missed. 

Most Recent Issue of the Belong Newsletter

Subscribe and Submit Items

If you would like to receive this monthly newsletter/the bi-weekly update directly, please fill out this quick GOOGLE FORM so we can add you to the list. To submit items for the newsletter, or the bi-weekly update, send an email to: g-center4inclusiveexcellence@gustavus.edu 

Newsletter Guidelines

The newsletter will accept new or reminder items about upcoming events that are of interest to the Gustavus Community and are focused on our ecosystem of stakeholders or our Community of Belonging. This could include: talks, grants, scholarships, and events that are hosted by are many student orgs and partners at Gustavus. The Center for Inclusive Excellence will not accept classified advertisements (including for sale items, thank you notices), personal notices (like kudos), political op-eds, or exclusive events not open to the broad public . Please avoid saying "today" or "tomorrow"—and instead list the day and date of event. Event promotional and/or program images can definitely elevate the message. 

CIE History

Gustavus Adolphus College has a long history of diversity, one that extends as far back as the 1870s when the College began debating whether the institution should remain an American college that was predominantly Swedish. The college decided to continue with its Swedish and Lutheran heritage but began examining ways it could be more diverse.

In 1989, President John S. Kendall commissioned Dr. Joyce Parks to evaluate the climate for diversity and organized several task forces to review and enhance inclusion for underrepresented students on campus. The Parks report called for more diversity and inclusion on campus, noting that the majority of the historically underserved students at Gustavus at the time were Black Americans. Today, the historically underserved students at Gustavus come from all ethnic, racial, sexual, religious, class, and national backgrounds, with the majority being Hmong, Latinx, and African-American students.

In 1990, Gustavus was awarded the McKnight Grant which was used to aid multicultural programs such as the week long orientation for American minorities and the creation of the position for Director of Multicultural programs. In the Spring of 1999, the College opened the Diversity Center in the Campus Center. Since then, the Diversity Center has helped organize multiple events throughout the year to unite students and help them understand that diversity is “everything that we are and everything that we are not.”