Justice & Community
UofL earns gold seal for excellence in voter engagement (UofL News, Nov. 21, 2019)
The Sustainability Council's Planning & Administration Committee and Engagement Committee work in tandem to ensure that the University of Louisville:
1. Continues our rich tradition of community engagement to solve real world problems;
2. Remains a diverse, accessible and affordable university where differences are celebrated and respected;
3. Compensates our employees fairly, provides for basic needs, promotes health & wellness and treats everyone with dignity;
4. Manages our funds with a triple-bottom-line perspective that takes into consideration the economic, social and environmental impacts of our investments.
These efforts are in-line with the mission statement for UofL, approved by the Board of Trustees on January 14th, 2016:
"The University of Louisville pursues excellence and inclusiveness in its work to educate and serve its community through 1) teaching diverse undergraduate, graduate, and professional students in order to develop engaged citizens, leaders, and scholars, 2) practicing and applying research, scholarship and creative activity, and 3) providing engaged service and outreach that improve the quality of life for local and global communities. The University is committed to achieving preeminence as a premier anti-racist metropolitan research university."
The work of UofL's Sustainability Council is also in support of the university's 2023-2025 Strategic Plan, insomuch as it reflects the values of sustainability found within the following Strategic Actions:
LEARN:
Strategy L1: Attract, retain, and graduate a talented, diverse student body through meaningful and structured commitment to student success.
ACTION 1: Create interdisciplinary degrees and credentials driven by community, society, and workforce needs.
ACTION 3: Continue to identify and remove barriers to improve retention and persistence to graduation and ensure progress towards equal outcomes for underrepresented, under-prepared, low-income student sub-populations.
Strategy L2: Prepare critical thinking, global citizens capable of lifelong, self-directed learning to lead, serve and shape the future.
ACTION 1: Every student will complete an engaged learning experience such as internship, community-based learning project, undergraduate research, creative activity presentation/performance, practicum, study abroad, service learning, etc.
DISCOVER:
Strategy D1: Increase efforts and support in innovation, research, scholarship, and creative activities.
ACTION 3: Engage historically underrepresented communities in the university's scholarly contributions and research activities.
CONNECT:
CONNECT Strategic Goal: The University of Louisville is a great place with which to CONNECT because of its impact on community and the economic, social, and cultural health and well-being of Louisville, the Commonwealth, and beyond. We accomplish this through principled leadership, responsible stewardship, and engaged partnerships.
WORK:
Strategy W1: Foster a culture of care, trust, accountability, equity, and transparency.
ACTION 1: Implement and incentivize programs to cultivate effective leaders and to hold them accountable for improving climate and culture outcomes as well as understanding the university's identity, vision and values including Cardinal Principles and the Cardinal Anti-Racism Agenda.
ACTION 2: Continue to establish transparent operational policies and procedures through Shared Governance and to increase effective communication strategies across campus.
Strategy W2: Become an employer of choice that intentionally attracts and retains the most talented and diverse faculty and staff through meaningful and structured commitment to employee success
ACTION 2: Informed by 2021-23 compensation study, develop plans to redress identified equity issues.