Members of the Stevens community may have noticed a recent change on the university website: the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is no longer listed. In its place stands the Office of University Culture and Engagement. Following the Stevens Board of Trustees’ unanimous approval on May 20, not only has the office’s name changed, but so has a core value, Goal 6 of the Stevens 2032 plan. What was once known as “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” is now called “One Stevens.”
Although the definition of the core value remains unchanged, the wording of Goal 6 has been updated to reflect a broader, more forward-looking vision. Previously, Goal 6 focused on attracting and retaining “an outstanding community of faculty, staff and students from diverse backgrounds” while cultivating “a supportive, inclusive learning and working environment that contributes to a technologically proficient workforce representative of our diverse society.”
The revised version emphasizes continuing to cultivate “an inclusive teaching, learning and work environment that engages a broad spectrum of community perspectives” to attract, retain, develop, and empower outstanding faculty, staff, and students to succeed and contribute to a “technologically advanced global society.”
As per the notice from the Office of the President on June 6, the adjustments made to Goal 6 were made as a form of “updated language.” According to Susan Metz, Executive Director of University Culture and Engagement, the change in the office’s name occurred as the new name “better reflects the work” that the office takes on, “engaging across the university to cultivate an inclusive teaching, learning, and working environment that attracts, retains, develops, and empowers our outstanding members to succeed.”
Stevens is not the only institution to have made such changes to its office. Recently, since the Trump administration began to impose federal funding restrictions on public schools that have diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, these institutions have decided to rebrand their DEI offices, rather than retract them. There is a growing list of colleges that have pivoted in this direction, such as Cornell University and the University of Florida.
Fitting this new commitment of Goal 6 back into the Stevens 2032 plan, a plan made to elevate Stevens’ impact, academic reputation, and student success, is a reactionary name update of the original goal, as both commitments share the same core meaning. However, the new commitment that Stevens has decided to take on is more future-facing, which is not mentioned in the first version of Goal 6. As for the “new” office, Stevens’ decision to pivot towards a name change puts them on the list of institutions that have rebranded their DEI offices. The Stevens 2032 plan continues forward.
