What would it take to foster, promote, and evaluate inclusive teaching in a way that will positively shape faculty practices, motivation and career advancement, so that all students succeed and feel a sense of belonging, inclusion, support, and purpose in STEM?

The goal of the Inclusive Excellence 3 (IE3) initiative encourages colleges and universities to increase their capacity for inclusion and effect genuine and lasting culture change on campuses so that students, particularly those belonging to historically excluded groups, feel that they belong and will thrive in the sciences. ​

Centered around the framing question above, UConn and 14 other colleges and universities around the country form Learning Community Cluster 5 (LCC5), to take a deep dive into cultivating faculty behaviors and mindsets that support critical, reflective and equitable teaching practice, and transformation of learning environments to be anti-oppressive. ​

We embrace that our partner schools from across the country- in our LCC5 as well as the national network of 104 schools- differ in perspectives, faculty, students and strengths. We do not assume that institutions can only learn those that are similar in size or structure. The strength that lies within these differences helps us create inclusive spaces for each person’s and each institutional team’s wisdom to surface, be heard and valued. We support one another in uncertainty and encourage one another to dig deeper by being critical friends to one another. ​