Community excellence continued

This fall, UD is reaffirming its Catholic, Marianist commitment to fostering a campus community that values the dignity of every person with the second Flyers Plan for Community Excellence.

“At its heart is ensuring that faculty, staff, and students have a voice, experience a sense of belonging and recognize how we’re all connected,” said Tiffany Taylor, vice president for diversity and inclusion.

Building off the initial strategic plan from 2020 and results from a 2023 campus climate survey, the new plan focuses on cultivating an excellent climate for faculty, staff and students where they feel their contributions are recognized and valued, Taylor said. That includes inclusive professional and leadership development, regular performance evaluations and participation in climate assessments for faculty and staff.

“This is about ensuring we are cultivating student leaders who are inclusive in their thinking and understanding and have had experiences to prepare them ... to live, work, play and love with people of various backgrounds and lived identities and experiences.”

The plan also advances student knowledge and respect for diversity to support the success of all students, she said. Students will build skills in the classroom, where they live, and through clubs, organizations and other co-curricular experiences. This is supported by the revisioning of Commitment to Community — known to alumni of the 2000s by the shorthand “C2C” — and through a civic preparedness and dialogue initiative that will also launch this fall.

“This is about ensuring we are cultivating student leaders who are inclusive in their thinking and understanding and have had experiences to prepare them — before they launch into the world — to live, work, play and love with people of various backgrounds and lived identities and experiences,” Taylor said.

Taylor is inviting the campus community to talk about how they are advancing the plan; those conversations will be produced as podcasts. She will also host fireside chats in the Dialogue Zone in Roesch Library.

A version of this article appears in print in the Autumn 2026 University of Dayton Magazine, Page 24. EXPLORE THE ISSUE — MORE ONLINE