Who is involved in DEI?

UMSI established a DEI Office in 2021 that now includes an assistant dean for DEI, a director of inclusion, equity and outreach, an outreach coordinator and two .50 DEI graduate student staff assistants (GSSAs.). This team provides DEI leadership, vision and infrastructure, from advising school leaders and collaborating with colleagues to organizing, implementing, tracking, documenting, communicating and evaluating DEI efforts.

Launched in 2013, the DEI Committee includes student, staff, and faculty members. Each year the committee is given a “charge” or set of things to work on, and each year they write a report on their efforts, which informs the next year's activity. The committee has played a central role in advancing the DEI plan and serves as an advisory board to the DEI Office.

Each functional unit director in UMSI (such as admissions and student affairs, human resources, and research administration) takes responsibility for some of the actions included in the DEI strategic plan, and otherwise develops DEI-related goals for their unit's work in support of the strategic plan and our DEI values. This means DEI work is spread throughout the school’s operations including facilities, IT, business & finance, human resources and more.

Each of UMSI's academic programs has a committee that guides academic policies and curriculum. The associate dean for academic affairs includes DEI-related efforts as part of the annual charge to each committee, such as addressing DEI in course proposal forms and course reviews, creating template content for syllabi on accommodations and mental health and coordinating with the DEI committee on efforts to create anti-racist curriculum.

In addition to faculty and staff, students play a critical role in advancing DEI through their interactions with one another, in class projects and through research related to DEI issues, as leaders of student organizations and through student-led activism at the UMSI and campus level.