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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

MISSION STATEMENT

The Office of Inclusion & Academic Excellence (OIAE) strives to comprehensively embed and integrate Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), accessibility, and inclusive well-being in the CVM and the veterinary profession enhancing a greater sense of belonging through community-building and respectful dialogue.

VISION STATEMENT

Serve as leaders and innovators by leveraging our diverse university, college, and professional community to:

  • Advance, embed and integrate a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, and innovation
  • Recruit, develop, and retain talented employees for a diverse workforce
  • Enhance community and academic engagement and impact

We affirm as a community that Black Lives Matter.  We also acknowledge that for centuries discriminatory events and policies have disproportionately affected Blacks and other marginalized identities, including but not limited to Latinx, Asians, Indigenous Peoples, LGBTQIA+ and those with disabilities, and society has told them that their lives do not matter.

OUR BELIEF

We are dedicated to Cornell's ideal of "any person, any study," and will strive to always live up to that founding principle.  We believe that our college is made stronger through a diversity of backgrounds, thoughts and experiences where all are actively welcomed, have a sense of belonging and are able to thrive personally and professionally.

OUR COMMITMENT

Our college commits itself to upholding the values of diversity, equity and inclusion through ongoing action.   We will work to eliminate all forms of discrimination, including those based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, religious beliefs, nationality, socioeconomic and educational background.  As a community, we will value civil discourse, diversity, acceptance and inclusion of all identities and intersections of these identities.  And we will advance research and deliver veterinary and public health services that benefit diverse populations.  (February 17, 2021)

 

LEADERSHIP

Melanie Ragin

Dr. Melanie Ragin, assistant dean for inclusion and academic excellence
cvm-dei@cornell.edu

As assistant dean for inclusion and academic excellence, Ragin is eager to apply her lived, professional and educational experiences to this role and is committed to creating more diverse, equitable and inclusive learning and work environments by removing barriers and raising awareness. Her goal is to ensure everyone in the CVM community feels valued, respected and has a sense of belonging.   She also serves as senior director of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute-Cornell University Research Transfer program, which enhances the success of two-year community college transfer students in the life sciences by increasing their participation in undergraduate research, community building and integration; and the NIH-funded Cornell Initiative to Maximize Student Development, which works to enhance the success of underrepresented and deaf/hard of hearing graduate students in life science graduate programs. Previous to this role, Ragin served as director of the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program at Binghamton University, as director of inclusion and cultural enhancement at the University at Buffalo’s School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Ragin earned her B.A. in biology from Whittier College, a Ph.D. in pathobiology from Pennsylvania State University, and a certificate of business leadership from the University of Georgia Terry College of Business.

REPORT A BIAS INCIDENT


If you have seen, heard, or experienced bias, you can make a report in the following ways:

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ people, past and present, to these lands and waters.

This land acknowledgment has been reviewed and approved by the traditional Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ leadership.

Please see the Cornell Agricultural and Life Sciences' Land Acknowledgement page for more information.