Inclusive Excellence

Our Commitment

The Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing is dedicated to cultivating a community grounded in inclusive excellence. We recognize that implicit biases can impact perceptions related to race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, religion, ability, and other personal characteristics. We actively work to mitigate their influence on our culture. We promote a spirit of collective reflection, self-awareness, and willingness to evolve, fostering open dialogue about our educational and work environments. Our commitment is to prepare nursing professionals who are culturally competent, ethically grounded, and equipped to deliver high-quality, compassionate care to diverse communities. For more than twenty-five years, our admissions, hiring, and contracting processes have prioritized inclusive excellence. We remain steadfast in upholding federal and state non-discrimination laws and university policies, ensuring that our environment is safe, respectful, and inclusive for everyone.

MEPN students and faculty in the audience at the Cal Optima Nurse-OC Check Presentation event.

Our Values

We acknowledge that we live and work on appropriated, unceded lands of the Kizh and Tongva people.
We are committed to a workplace culture of excellence in integrity and respect.
We promote diversity, inclusivity, and equity in all that we do, and we do not accept the superiority of anyone based on any inherent characteristic.
We commit to sustained investment in aligning our policies and practices with our values.
We promote equitable conditions and safeguard diversity regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, income, ability, or any other characteristic.
We hold ourselves and our colleagues to the highest standards of character and ethical conduct.

We encourage the comprehensive exchange of ideas and critiques as are warranted in an academic environment.
We respect and encourage honest dialogue among our affiliates and support the creation of brave spaces in which we actively work to prevent acts of censorship, silencing, and retaliation.
We support an environment where constructive feedback is expected, appreciated, and both delivered and received respectfully.
We hold all members of our School accountable for their contributions to, and influences on, our professional/academic environment and expect honesty and transparency from each other and our organization.
We respect individuals’ identities and personal beliefs, and do not judge any contribution to our profession’s work by anything other than its scientific significance to the field.