Inclusive Diversity, Equity, Access, and Accountability (IDEAA)

Welcome to IDEAA

The Division of Inclusive Diversity, Equity, Access, and Accountability (IDEAA) is a reflection of the College’s commitment to providing an inclusively diverse campus community where our students, staff, and faculty can thrive.  Our path forward is defined in our vision and mission statements:

VISION:  Through innovative programming and the coordination of initiatives and resources, IDEAA will transform St. Mary’s College of Maryland into a nationally recognized institution known for implementing inclusive and equitable practices to achieve academic and/or professional success for all campus community members.

MISSION:  To lead campus-wide efforts to create and sustain policies, initiatives, and resources to ensure that St. Mary’s College of Maryland is a welcoming, transformative, and empowering institution where all students, faculty, and staff can thrive.

The building blocks of IDEAA help us align our work with the College’s strategic priorities.

• Inclusion: Active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity — in the curriculum, in the co-curriculum, and in communities (intellectual, social, cultural, geographical) with which individuals might connect — in ways that increase awareness, content knowledge, critical thinking, and empathic understanding of the complex ways individuals interact within systems and institutions.
• Diversity: Individual differences (e.g., personality, prior knowledge, and life experiences) and group/social differences (e.g., race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, country of origin, and ability, as well as cultural, political, religious, or other affiliations).
• Equity:  The creation of opportunities for historically underserved populations to have equal access to, and participate in, programming that is capable of closing achievement gaps in student success and completion and in faculty and staff recruitment and retention.
• Access:  The College’s programs and facilities are designed and implemented to ensure that people of all abilities may thrive and be equipped to succeed as students, faculty, and staff.
• Accountability:  The visible use of qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate, assess, celebrate, and tell the story of the College’s progress towards its goals.