On January 12, CCSU announced Dr. Stacey Miller as the university’s inaugural Vice President for Equity and Inclusion.

“Dr. Miller’s hiring is instrumental in our reorganization of the Office of Equity and Inclusion and achieving key goals in the University’s 2030 strategic plan,” President Dr. Zulma R. Toro said in a statement. “I am confident she will be an excellent agent for change as we find new ways to increase access to higher education and foster values that encourage the free and respectful exchange of ideas.”

Miller most recently worked at Valparaiso University, serving as the Associate Provost for Inclusion and Retention for the past five years. Miller also served as a lecturer and Director of Residential Life in Student Affairs at the University of Vermont.

“There are things that I did at Valparaiso that I think are transferable here at CCSU”, Miller told the Recorder. “One of the things I pushed to implement at my former institution that I think will work well at CCSU is shifting the way we do our hiring practices, and making that process a more inclusive process.”

The goal of the Office of Equity and Inclusion is “to cultivate a campus environment that is equitable, inclusive, and responsible to enable students, faculty, and staff to achieve their full potential.”

Miller said that a key step towards the realization of that goal is representation.

“Representation matters, it’s super important, and when students from underrepresented groups see faculty and staff look like them, It creates a different level of engagement and a different level of comfort and safety,” Miller said. “I know that all the deans, including the presidential cabinet, are all committed to increasing those numbers and getting more representation at CCSU.”

Dr. Miller pointed to a common misconception about increased representation for underrepresented groups, that being the view that the majority group doesn’t benefit from the exposure to different groups of people.

“We live in a global society, and we need to understand that from this point forward in our lives our world is going to get smaller, not larger, and we’re going to be interacting with people from all over the world. So the more we can expose people to difference, the better,” Miller said.

Miller also acknowledged her past experiences with inclusion and diversity and said that she will make that one of her top missions at CCSU.

“Another thing that I’ve done, through my time as a consultant, is reaching students by talking about diversity and inclusion in a different and dynamic way,” Miller said. “I’ve done a lot of keynote conversations during orientations and opening weekend’s to engage students about diversity and inclusion at the onset, as they are entering campus, and let them know that we are an open and welcoming campus, and help them understand that one of their responsibilities as learners is to push themselves and get outside of their comfort zones and meet people who are different from themselves.”

Miller also addressed the recent killing of eight Asian-Americans at a spa in Atlanta, Georgia. She expressed her sympathy to the victims and her outrage towards the senseless crime, while also providing information regarding the ways in which CCSU can make certain that Asian-American students, faculty and staff feel welcome and safe on campus.

“We used to have a South Asian Center, and I know that the Board of Regents are looking into reconstituting it and expanding its portfolio so that it’s not just inclusive of East Asian but all Asians in the diaspora,” Miller said. “The university is also looking to identify a location and space where Asian students can be able to gather together as a community and talk, just like we have the Africana Center and just like we have the Latino and Caribbean Center.”

Miller urged all members of the CCSU community to stand together and look out for one another.

“If you are experiencing any negativity or are feeling targeted, please report issues to our office,” Miller said. “We take those issues very seriously. We run investigations closely with our CCSU law enforcement and we don’t want anybody to be the target of any negative behavior.”

To learn more about the Office of Equity & Inclusion, visit https://www.ccsu.edu/diversity/.