Dear Wolfpack Community,

As we begin this new year and new semester, almost 1,000 new students join our Wolfpack community. Each spring welcomes more new faces as NC State strives to provide access to higher education to as many people as possible. The 2019 spring class is even more representative of a wider range of people than the fall class, an exciting achievement that is indicative of the excellence that a diverse group brings to this university.

Are you setting resolutions for the new year? The new calendar year brings with it the opportunity to review and reestablish priorities and set new intentions. An interesting article in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, “Academics, Experts Share Diversity Dreams for 2019 (January 2, 2019) explores what academics and other experts wish for in 2019 as it relates to diversity and inclusion.

Chief diversity officers at institutions of higher education across the U.S. mentioned many pressing issues that they hope to see progress in during the coming year, including among them:

• working to ensure that everyone has access to higher education;
• ensuring that civility and respect form the foundation of our interactions;
• achieving a better reflection of our diversity in the administration of our universities;
• attaining increased accountability and empowerment of diversity and inclusion leaders;
• adapting the ways in which we work to recruit and retain students and faculty to better serve all of our communities;
• making real progress in the areas of awareness, intention and impact as we work to promote social justice.

The breadth and depth of the wishes posed in the article encompass all that I also wish to see in the upcoming year. Personally, I would also add that I hope for NC State to continue creating a supportive and inclusive community that speaks authentically about our strengths as they relate to our level of cultural competence, inclusion and belonging, as well as our areas for improvement.

Just as “exercise more” and “eat better” tend to be a perpetual new year’s resolutions for many, certainly the recommitment to this vision of our Wolfpack community is one that we will always work toward as we continue to hold ourselves to a high standard. As Chancellor Woodson said in his fall address, “Extraordinary is the goal, and we should strive for nothing less.”

Let’s make our 2019 “inclusion resolution” to be extraordinary. And nothing less.

Sheri L. Schwab, J.D., M.Ed., ‘97
Interim Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity
Title IX and ADA Coordinator
NC State University