The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) have jointly announced a network to give faculty and staff ways to improve student belonging and inclusion.
Bacari Brown
The network, “Belong: An Inclusive Learning Community,” aims to equip faculty and staff at CIC member schools with evidence-based strategies. Network members can credential people via ACUE’s new offering “Fostering a Culture of Belonging” and access live webinars, engagement resources, and a like-minded community.
“As the saying goes, students only care about how much you know when they know how much you care,” said Bacari Brown, ACUE partnership director leading Belong. “Today, we could not be more excited to partner with CIC to ensure no student encounters bias or is subject to microaggressions and so that each knows that they belong in their classrooms and campus. Transforming a campus culture to meet the needs of its diverse community does not happen overnight––it takes a village deeply engaged and committed to making equity and inclusion everyone’s responsibility.”
The network will start early Spring 2023 – online pre-registration opens this week.
“We’re proud to partner with CIC to deliver on exactly the rigorous, meaningful, and inclusive education one would expect from our nation’s small colleges and universities,” said Scott Durand, ACUE chief executive officer. “A sense of belonging is one of the most important predictors of student retention and success – and every faculty and staff plays a pivotal role. When students know they belong, they stay and succeed, and ultimately go on to become the future leaders our country needs.”
