Office of Institutional Equity, Effectiveness and Success

Strengthening and advancing diversity, equity and inclusion at Virginia Commonwealth University

Category results for: Covid-19

Psychological Readiness and Return to Campus

A new eLearning module on Psychological Readiness and Return to Campus developed by VCU’s Office of Institutional Equity, Effectiveness and Success (IES), in partnership with Human Resources’ Office of Learning, Development & Organizational Culture, will be released in Talent@VCU on June 22, 2020. This course endeavors to help each of us to become more self-aware and better prepared for […]

The Power in Their Narrative

As 2020 introduced COVID-19 to the world, it lands on VCU’s doorstep and brought uncertainty and anxiety. And while this global pandemic has kept us physically apart, it is still vital to hear from each other as we work to overcome this unexpected adversity. Department of Focused Inquiry professor Tanya Boucicaut inspires and encourages her spring 2020 students to share […]

Aashir Nasim, Ph.D. shares remarks at the June 5, 2020 Board of Visitors meeting

Dr. Nasim, in a Friday morning web conference call, shares his thoughts on COVID-19 and its disproportionate impacts to underrepresented minority communities, Black Lives Matter and what his office has been doing to advance diversity and equity at VCU. Read his full statement.

Maintaining an Equitable and Inclusive Work Environment During This Health Crisis

We live in challenging times.  The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our work and learning environments and fundamentally changed how we interact with one another. Despite these challenges and the myriad  adjustments we have all had to make, it has become increasingly vital that we maintain equitable and inclusive relationships—free of discrimination, unconscious bias, and retaliation—in […]

Queer in the Time of COVID

When we made the rapid transition to remote instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were resolute in our efforts to reconfigure our administrative and academic infrastructure and operations in a manner that was as inclusive as possible. We provided emergency housing and food to students in need, organized a fund to support our […]

Reimagining Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility: Emerging from the COVID-19 Chrysalis

Our world as we know it is changing by the second. With such uncertainty in even our day-to-day existence, why would accessibility matter? How could this experience reshape the inclusion of individuals with chronic conditions and disabilities in our everyday lives? At VCU, we’ve been challenged to rethink and reimagine how we can connect virtually, […]

Overcoming Difference to Become A Difference-maker

Virginia Commonwealth University is committed to its mission to educate, to innovate, and to provide world-class healthcare and treatment to all who come to us. We remain steadfast in our quest to discover life-saving treatments, especially as it relates to COVID-19, a pandemic that threatens all of us. As our healthcare teams work together to […]

Ageism in the era of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is shining a light on a form of discrimination that has long existed but garnered little attention – ageism. Ageism, oppression based on age, has taken center stage in our current climate. Public responses to the pandemic have included sentiments that minimize the impact of the virus because it only affects the elderly as […]