Welcome to Educational Equity: Fostering Diversity at Penn State

Created in July 1990, the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity is charged with fostering diversity at Penn State and creating a climate of diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the University’s faculty, staff, leadership, and student body. This mission encompasses strategic planning for diversity, the President’s commissions for Equity, student success programs for underrepresented/underserved students, and support of educational access for targeted groups of low-income, potential first-generation college students both here at Penn State and at sites throughout the state, and serving as a catalyst and advocate for Penn State’s diversity initiatives by providing University-wide leadership to increase our capacity for diversity.

Within the University, the office supports and evaluates the many diversity initiatives and serves as an advocate for a range of populations. These include historically underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities; persons with disabilities; persons from low-income families who would be the first generation to college; veterans; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons; and women. Beyond the University, in targeted high schools and counties, the office helps low-income youth and adults to overcome the social, cultural, and educational barriers to success in higher education.

With more than a decade of experience in advancing our diversity goals through strategic planning and a rich history of valuing diversity, Penn State is among the national leaders in higher education in diversity strategic planning. Our current strategic planning approach, adopted in 1998 with A Framework to Foster Diversity at Penn State: 1998–2003, guides our established institutional processes. We are presently within the third five-year plan, A Framework to Foster Diversity at Penn State: 2010–15 and are laying the groundwork for merging diversity strategic planning into Penn State’s overall strategic planning process. Promoting equity and inclusivity in higher education is not only the right thing to do; it is also the strategic thing to do.

For more information about diversity initiatives at Penn State and the programs and services our office provides, as well as services provided by other units at Penn State, visit the helpful links we have listed on this site.