Educating and Counseling for Change

The School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado Denver is a statewide and national leader for educational quality, access and equity across the education lifespan, birth through higher education. Our undergraduate and graduate programs prepare and inspire education and human development leaders to have profound impacts in fostering student opportunity, achievement and success in diverse communities throughout Colorado. We believe that all students deserve access to an excellent education; that all communities deserve well-supported high-quality schools; and all individuals and families deserve access to mental and community health resources that support their well-being. Our academic programs, our world-class faculty and our curriculum reflect this philosophy of inclusion and social justice. Through innovative research and partnerships, we strive to be passionate agents of change, inspiring upcoming generations to learn from the past and shape the future. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion works toward a more just and compassionate world.

Mission

Prepare and inspire education and human development leaders to have a profound impact in fostering student opportunity, achievement and success in urban and diverse communities.

Vision

A leading school of education providing national expertise on educational issues and socially-just solutions for urban and diverse communities. Through innovative research and partnerships, we strive to be passionate agents of change, inspiring upcoming generations to learn from the past and shape the future.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Principles

We are a community of humans--diverse in identities, roles, experiences, expertise--committed to the difficult work of educational and social equity. In this work, we maintain a radical vision for our own individual and collective well-being. We do this through:

  • Forms of learning evident in scholarship, partnership, and leadership that thoughtfully engages with children and youth, families, schools, higher education institutions, businesses and nonprofits with diverse perspectives and backgrounds.
  • Continuous collective reflection and self-reflection on the ways in which race, ethnicity, economic resources, languages, abilities, histories, geography, first-generation status, age, gender, sexual identities, veteran status, and cultural and faith practices surface and inform our shared commitments and interactions. 
  • Prioritizing psychological, emotional, and physical safety.
  • Prioritizing the sense of belonging for all members of our community.
  • Courage in our commitments to risk, reflect, and improve.

Key Terms

Diversity

Diversity refers to the numerical representation of faculty, staff, and students who hold individual differences (e.g., personality, learning styles, and life experiences) and group/social differences (e.g., race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, country of origin, and ability as well as cultural, political, religious, or other affiliations) with special focus on historically minoritized identities (adapted from AAC&U).

Equity

Equity requires attention to disparate impact, differential access and opportunities afforded to various communities, as well as structural and systemic barriers that limit potential and possibilities (Alina S. Wong and DeLuca Fernandez, 2018).

Inclusion

Inclusion refers to the active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity—in decision making, sense making, curriculum, in the co-curriculum, and in communities (intellectual, social, cultural, geographical) with which individuals might connect—in ways that increase awareness, content knowledge, cognitive sophistication, and empathic understanding of the complex ways individuals interact within systems and institutions (adapted from AAC&U).

Intersectional

Intersectional: A concept that describes the ways in which systems of inequality based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, class and other forms of discrimination “intersect” to create unique dynamics and effects (Center for Intersectional Justice, 2022).

Social Justice

Social Justice: “...social justice is both a process and a goal. The goal of social justice is full and equal participation of all groups in a society that is mutually shaped to meet their needs. Social justice includes a vision of society in which the distribution of resources is fair, and all members are psychologically and physically safe and secure.” (Bell, 2018, p. 34).