Equity and Inclusion
Welcome Message from the Vice President for Equity and Inclusion
Keith V. Johnson, PhD
Vice President for Equity and Inclusion
Welcome to East Tennessee State University's Office of Equity and Inclusion. One of our premier missions is to promote and strategically coordinate opportunity, access, and outreach efforts institution wide, thereby affirming the educational value of a fully inclusive and supportive campus community. We aspire to become a campus enriched by persons of different backgrounds, points of view, cultures, socioeconomic statuses, and other varied characteristics who find opportunity and access to participate in all aspects of university life.
We are an ever-evolving university entity as we process change, development, and transformation,
not only within the realm of the department, but throughout the campus community.
Already, we have experienced success in our endeavors to become a place where all
people, regardless of their background, are recruited, welcomed, included, celebrated,
and supported. We extend a warm “thank you” to a willing, high-performing faculty,
staff, and administration as we move forward toward an inviting climate of inclusion,
support, and celebration that will be woven into the fabric of the university.
Other University Resources:
Black Faculty and Staff Association (BFSA)
Disability Services
Dr. Patricia Robertson Pride Center
ETSU Access
ETSU International Enrollment and Services
Faculty/Staff LGBTQ+ Association
Language and Culture Resource Center (LCRC)
Mary V. Jordan Multicultural Center
Military and Veteran Services
Safe Zone
Women and Gender Resource Center
Land Acknowledgement
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ETSU is a community of educators and learners residing on the ancestral homeland of the Cherokee, also known as the Tsalagi people. The Cherokee constituted one of the largest politically integrated tribes at the time of European colonization of the Americas. At the time of their forced removal, the Cherokee numbered some 50,000 individuals who controlled 40,000 square miles of the Appalachian Mountains, in parts of present-day Georgia, east Tennessee, western North and South Carolina, and northeast Alabama. Over the years, the tribe lost many of its people to wars and to diseases brought by the settlers. Many of the Cherokee people walked the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma. And those who stayed here, now reside in western North Carolina, and are known as the Eastern Band of Cherokee. Our hope is that this acknowledgment serves as a reminder to all of us to recognize how we came to be here today, and to honor those who were here before us. And it is a call to action for us to care for the land on which our campus resides. Understanding the historical and current experiences of people who are Indigenous to this land, which many call Turtle Island, will help inform the work we do. |