Mission and Statement
“Northwestern is committed to excellent teaching, innovative research and the personal and intellectual growth of its students in a diverse academic community.” - Northwestern University Mission
Fostering and maintaining inclusive learning environments are at the core of Northwestern University’s mission and essential to enabling full participation, engagement, and learning for all students. Creating an inclusive learning environment necessitates an awareness and knowledge of teaching practices and pedagogies that consider our own and our students’ diverse backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences. It requires intentionality on the part of instructors to examine their teaching and adopt changes to their curriculum, course design, and modality of instruction to create equitable learning experiences.
To help our instructors cultivate classroom and learning environments of inclusiveness, a team that included the Office of the Associate Provost for Faculty, the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching, the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, and the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance worked together to create Northwestern Principles of Inclusive Teaching. I encourage all instructors to engage with this resource in concert with educational development workshops and other tools available to instructors, departments, units, and schools. Together, these supports help us elevate the academic experience for all Northwestern students.
Kathleen HagertyProvost
First Chicago Professor in Finance