This website was launched in summer 2020 as a home for

• News and information, including news articles and calendar listings for DEI-related matters;
• A home for the Diversity Database, a comprehensive, searchable digital catalogue of more than 140 DEI initiatives and programs across colleges, schools, departments, centers and other units;
• A place for important task force and action plan reports to be posted, including the Task Force for Racial Equality and updates on progress;
• Listings of publications and policies helpful in understanding and addressing DEI issues;
• Listings of centers and services to help the Georgia State community engage in their participation
• Provide an assistance form for people to submit their questions about DEI matters or to get help and referral to the appropriate department or center;

and more.

Diversity, equity and inclusion touches many, many issues and diversity among many different identities and intersectionalities of those identities. Human beings are complex, and so is our society. And we recognize that people cannot -- and should not -- be siloed into a single, immovable category.

It is helpful, though, to have a guidepost. This site discusses and shares information about DEI among the following identities and the intersections thereof - but by no means these categories alone:

• Racial/ethnic background
• Gender
• Gender identity
• Sexual orientation
• Religion
• Socioeconomic background
• National origin
• Age
• Disability
• Current or past military service

Why is military service/veteran status considered among the different DEI categories?

There are multiple reasons, which often intersect with one another, and with the other categories of diversity listed above.

• No longer as common: At one time in the 20th century, much of the U.S. male population undertook or were conscripted into military service. Since the institution of the all-volunteer military following the inequities of the draft during the Vietnam War (where often middle-class and upper-class white men were able to avoid combat service due to college deferments and other factors), military service is no longer as common of an experience for most Americans.
• Civilian/military cultural divide: There is a cultural "civilian/military" divide in the United States, with a small fraction of the national population experiencing a different set of life experiences, challenges and opportunities, and many members of the majority of the non-military/non-veteran U.S. population may not be able to directly relate to those factors.
• Intersections with geographic origin, socioeconomics, minority backgrounds: Some of the enlisted ranks of current service members are often recruited from low-income, rural, or minority backgrounds (or the intersection of any of the three).
• Unique experiences and challenges of veterans: Additionally, post-service, veterans often face their own unique challenges and life experiences, including the struggle for the health care and educational benefits they were promised, compared to individuals with no history of military service.

This is a university-wide website, with its launch and current oversight by the communications staff of the Office of the Provost, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs Corrie Fountain, and Research Scientist Dr. Rihana Mason of the College of Education and Human Development.

Day-to-day content administration, design, writing, editing and planning matters are handled by Jeremy Craig, Communications Manager for the Office of the Provost.

So that you can find the answers you need faster, please check out the sections of this guide first. If your question still has not been answered, please reference the "Further Assistance/ Contacts" section located at the bottom of this page.

We recognize there's tons of information on this site, which may present challenges for locating your desired resource. That's why we created a new Resource Library for this website -- a keyword-searchable home for publications, policies, training, video, audio, helpful websites, maps, and more.

Visit https://dei.gsu.edu/resource-library to explore these resources.

There is also additional information you can find on this site.

You will find the following under "News, Events & Information":

• • News: This is the DEI website's news article feed.
  • DEI Newsletters: This is where you can find current and back issues of the university's DEI newsletter, as well as information on how to submit items for consideration, deadlines, and publication dates.
  • View Calendar: This is the DEI calendar page, which includes the main DEI calendar feed, instructions on how to get onto the calendar, as well as listings of signature events that are held by colleges and units on a regular basis. You will also find links under the menu listing at the top of the screen for specific observance months, including GSU's MLK Commemoration month.
  • Search the Diversity Database: This link takes you to the Diversity Database page, which will help you search more than 140 different diversity initiatives across Georgia State's colleges and units.
  • University Contacts: This is a listing of how to get in touch with key contacts at different university departments.
  • Assistance Form: This form provides a way to get in touch with the DEI team if you have questions, suggestions, or need to get in touch with a department or service but are unsure how to do so.

  Other helpful resources are located in the "Get Involved/Take Action" section.

  • Student Organizations: This page includes a blue button with a specific search term linked at the Panther Involvement Network website to find student groups related to diversity, equity and inclusion.
  • Student Resources: This page includes listings of centers and services that can be of help to students looking for more information about diversity on campus, policies, centers, and services where students can get help for issues they may have.
  • Faculty Affinity Groups: This page contains information about the faculty affinity groups and Diverse Faculty Alliance at Georgia State, including a sign up form, points of contact, and affinity group website links.
  • Faculty/Staff Programs & Resources: This page contains helpful links to training, counseling, wellness, manuals, programs aimed at faculty and faculty and staff, and resources that may be helpful in teaching, learning, research and scholarship.
  • Diversity Dialogues: This page contains more information regarding the 2020-21 Diversity Dialogues at Georgia State, including recordings and the schedule of events.
  • View Initiatives: This page includes a listing of university initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion.
  • Add to the Diversity Database: This page directs users to an area of the Diversity Database pages where users can add their program or initiative to the database.
  • Donate: Here, users can find different scholarships, programs and centers where they can donate to make an impact in creating an equitable and inclusive university, such as the Ground Crew Groundbreaker Scholarship, the Center for Access to Justice, the Panther Retention Grant, and other efforts.

  The About section contains:

  • Information about the purposes of the website and its background
  • A welcome video
  • Task Force for Racial Equality's initial report and the subsequent Provost's Action Plan
  • And links to other offices/committees involved in DEI efforts at Georgia State.

   

The Resource Library works similarly to the current Diversity Database. However, instead of programs and initiatives, the Resource Library serves as the central repository for policy listings, listings of suggested books and academic/general readership articles, research papers, helpful websites outside of GSU, on-demand training courses, audiovisual materials, and other items.

The Library's advantage is that each listing connects to keywords. Users can enter and search keywords and even narrow down search results based on the type of resource the user would like to find.

We invite you to share new resources with us as Georgia State continues its journey toward becoming an institution for all and strives to become an example for other institutions. Resources may include:

• Academic and non-academic publications
• Articles
• Suggested readings
• Podcasts
• Videos
• On-demand trainings

and more.

To share news stories, events, college and department initiatives, and policies, please read the Sharing Events, DEI Newsletter, DEI Newsfeeds, and Diversity Database sections below.

Any resources that highlight research and scholarship and encourages the representation and participation of diverse groups of people. This may include people of different genders, races and ethnicities, abilities and disabilities, religions, cultures, nationalities, ages, sexual orientations, veteran statuses, and people with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and skills and expertise.

Please visit the "How Can I Get Assistance?" page to share your resources, make suggestions, or provide feedback with us. Make sure to add all relevant resource information including links and publication information (if applicable). Click the button below for more.

The DEI Calendar is a hub for many of Georgia State's events across its campuses that help build a diverse, equitable, and inclusive institution for all, with possibilities for its entire community. Events on this calendar highlight DEI-related programs and appear on the right panel of the newsfeed - located on the front page of the DEI website. Learn more through the calendar by clicking the button below.

Getting Onto the DEI Calendar: Submit Your Public Georgia State Event

The Diversity, Equity & Inclusion calendar, both on this page and on the dei.gsu.edu homepage is powered by the University calendar system at calendar.gsu.edu. To appear on the calendar for this site, please follow the instructions located below.

Please note the following event guidelines:

The University Calendar is only for events organized, hosted, sponsored or cosponsored by Georgia State University departments, colleges, schools, centers and institutes, alumni organization and officially sanctioned student organizations. Georgia State will not accept events submissions from individuals or organizations outside of the university with the exceptions of conferences or events held in Georgia State venues.

Georgia State reserves the right to approve, reject, edit or make special consideration for any events submitted to the calendar. Submissions that don't have a complete description will not be accepted.

How to Correctly List Your Event for the DEI Calendar

It's very important to make sure that your calendar submission is properly noted as a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion event under the "Filters" section of the submission form. Due to the volume of events held at Georgia State, we cannot guarantee that your event will be included in our calendar without this information. The steps you need to take are listed below:

DIRECTIONS

1. 1. 1. Go to https://calendar.gsu.edu and select the red "Submit an Event" button on the right side of the screen. You will be asked to log in with your campus ID and password.
      2. The submission form will appear on the screen. Be sure to fill out the form with the title of the event, start and ending times, dates, whether the event is in-person or virtual, as well as the event website.
      3. To attract people to your event, make sure to fill out the description box at the top of the screen with sentences that explain what the event is, and if it's part of an event series, a sentence or two describing the series.
      4. When submitting your event to the university calendar, be sure to select "Diversity, Equity & Inclusion" under the "Event Types" drop-down menu in the "FILTERS" section, as depicted in the screenshot image below:

5. Continue filling out the form.
6. Upload an image to help attract attention to your event - usually this will be a version of an image that you might use on an event flyer or on a display screen around campus. For a speaker series or similar type of event, the best photo would be one of the speaker themselves. This will be the image that appears next to or above the calendar listing for your event when it appears in the calendar feed.
7. You can also enter a social media hashtag for your event, but this is not required.
8. Submit your event once you have completed the form. An administrator for the university calendar will review your submission for approval.

If you have questions, please contact us here.

The main University Calendar powers the DEI calendar feed. The feed pulls in events that are marked with a specific event type, "Diversity, Equity & Inclusion," and shows only those events that include this piece of information.

It's generally a best practice to make sure your event receives as wide as possible publicity as you can get -- and putting your event on the main university calendar does exactly that.

Georgia State has hundreds, if not thousands, of events happening at its campuses and virtually. There is no practical way to pick up every event with a DEI element to it without using this procedure. Using this protocol makes it more efficient for our team in showcasing and sharing events.

You should be able to go back and edit your event within calendar.gsu.edu and add "Diversity, Equity & Inclusion" as an event type. If you aren't able to do so, contact us here so that we can further assist.

Signature Events refer to events of departments, centers, colleges, schools, or other units that are:

• Standing events that occur on an annual or semi-annual basis, or at a regular interval during the year (example: an event happening every X number of months)
• Generally considered to be a department/center/college/school/unit's major event during the course of an academic year
• Often lectures, seminars, speaker series, dialogues, or similar events
• Are often named after someone, either in their memory or honor (ex: Mays Lecture, Kreuter Katz Lecture)

These events should have a DEI focus. Signature events are considered on a case-by-case basis. Email Jeremy Craig at [email protected] for further guidance and discussion about inclusion into the Signature Events listings.

Any Signature Event, even listed at the bottom of the page, must be entered into the main University Calendar for that year's edition, using the protocol listed in the sections above.

The University Calendar is only for events organized, hosted, sponsored or cosponsored by Georgia State University departments, colleges, schools, centers and institutes, alumni organization and officially sanctioned student organizations. Georgia State will not accept events submissions from individuals or organizations outside of the university with the exceptions of conferences or events held in Georgia State venues.

Yes. If there is a date and time connected to it, it must be submitted to the calendar system. The submission must be made each time it occurs -- each year, each semester, etc. so that people know when it's happening for that year/semester/etc.

• The Diversity Database is intended to tell the university community, and beyond, that a program -- which can include a regularly scheduled event -- exists, its purposes, and the correct contact. It is a more permanent representation and is not tied to a specific date, in a specific year, at a specific time. Entries remain in the public view.
• The calendar is intended to tell the community that a particular occurrence, even if it happens each year/semester/etc., is happening on a specific date, in a specific year, at a specific time, and in a specific location/virtual modality. It is temporary, and once the calendar entry date and time are past, the listing is gone from the public view.

The DEI newsletter highlights DEI related events, activities, programs, and news across all Georgia State campuses.

Any resources, new stories, events, college and department initiatives, and policies that highlight research and scholarship and encourages the representation and participation of diverse groups of people. This may include people of different genders, races and ethnicities, abilities and disabilities, religions, cultures, nationalities, ages, sexual orientations, veteran statuses, and people with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and skills and expertise.

Newsletters are released once a semester. The last DEI Newsletter for 2022-23 will be released in early February.

The next DEI Newsletter thereafter will be distributed in September 2023.

In between DEI newsletters, the Provost's Office Newsletter contains a major DEI news section that can be helpful. Provost's Newsletters are generally published in August, October, January and March.

The DEI communications team will consider items on a case by case basis. Due to space limitations, not all items can be published in the e-newsletter, but some can be considered for publication in the DEI website news feed (which appears on the front page - full news page link here).

To submit items for consideration, please click here to email the communications team with the following information:

• Make sure your subject line contains "submission for DEI website newsfeed".
• Please provide all important information, details, and language you would like included, such as an event summary or official write-up/blurb.
• Please provide promotional items and graphics (if applicable).
• Make sure to submit your event to the university calendar.

All newsletters are achieved on the DEI website. To access an older edition, click on the button below.

The newsletter is distributed via campus email to all students, faculty and staff, sent to their student.gsu.edu or gsu.edu email address.

Yes, you can. Please email the communications team to subscribe to the DEI newsletter. Please make sure the subject line contains "subscribe to DEI newsletter" and provide your preferred email address in your request.

Like the DEI newsletter, The DEI newsfeed highlights the latest DEI-related events, activities, programs, and news across all Georgia State campuses. Many stories derive from the Georgia State News Hub and are cross-referenced on this website. The newsfeed also features news stories from the local, national, and international levels within the DEI Weekly Digest.

To submit items for consideration, please click here to email the communications team with the following information:

• Make sure your subject line contains "submission for DEI website newsfeed".
• Please provide all important information, details, and language you would like included, such as an event summary or official write-up/blurb.
• Please provide promotional items and graphics (if applicable).
• Make sure to submit your event to the university calendar.

Please click on the button below to learn more.

Please click on the button below to learn more.

Please visit the Diversity Database page by selecting the link below.

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness maintains institutional research data. Visit OIE by selecting the link below.

Action plan progress reports for the Task Force for Racial Equality's recommendations will continue to be published here on the DEI website. Click here to access them.

Multicultural Center

• The Multicultural Center supports Georgia State University’s mission of educating students to participate in a global economy with individuals different from themselves. To assist students in successfully engaging in this global process, the Multicultural Center provides opportunities for intentional, meaningful programming and dialogue to assist students to learn more about themselves and others.

Office of Diversity Education Planning  

• The Office of Diversity Education Planning (ODEP) promotes an inclusive campus environment where all community members feel they belong. Through its partnerships with Georgia State departments and Atlanta-based businesses and organizations, ODEP provides training and programming to develop a culturally competent and inclusive workforce to serve the Georgia State and metro Atlanta communities.

ECRC Training & Compliance 

• The mission of the Office of ECRC Training & Compliance is to educate the University community and monitor compliance by providing engaging sessions and appropriate reviews to create an inclusive respectful environment.