Office of the Provost

The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEI)

Academic Excellence through Diversity

In August 2007, the State University of New York (SUNY) established the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEI). The office provides leadership and strategic direction to all of SUNY’s campuses for developing and implementing a portfolio of affirmative action and diversity programs and is headed by Mr. Carlos N. Medina, Associate Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion who reports to the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost.

SUNY is committed to creating campus communities enriched by a range of perspectives and interests. ODEI promotes equal access, meaningful academic and intellectual inclusion in curriculum, research and service, and holistic integration of our state’s underrepresented and economically disadvantaged populations into the academic culture of higher education at all levels.

ODEI champions the creation of initiatives that support individual expression and the recognition of distinctive cultural identities with respect to age, disability, race, ethnicity, gender, gender expression and identity, language heritage, learning style, national origin, political expression, sexual orientation, religion, social-economic status, veteran service and world-view.

SUNY’s inclusive programs serve both curricular and co-curricular interests at the campus level by facilitating support services, curricula, policies and programs that enrich campus culture and provide an understanding of our changing world environment in order to prepare our students to thrive in a global society. ODEI now administers four programs that were created by the state legislature  over twenty years ago to assure "the broadest possible access, fully representative of all segments of the population." These include the following:

• The Faculty Diversity Program,  
• The Empire State Diversity Honors Scholarship Program,
• The Graduate Diversity Fellowship Program,  and
• The Native American Initiative

ODEI also provides support to campus administrators, affirmative action officers, faculty, students, and Title IX coordinators on all issues concerning affirmative action and Title IX. Our office is a resource to SUNY management, faculty and students with respect to complaint procedures for addressing unlawful discrimination.  We administer programs and workshops to foster institutional awareness of and commitment to faculty diversity goals, including gender equity to assure equal opportunity for all qualified candidates for appointment and promotion.

Recognizing that diversity is an essential component of academic excellence, ODEI collaborates closely with our campuses to promote diversity-related instruction and policy research by marshalling our resources and strategic investments in consultation with chief diversity and affirmative action officers system-wide. ODEI thus plays a critical role in helping SUNY fulfill its responsibility to prepare a new generation of public and corporate leaders, as well as a highly skilled and technically proficient workforce, that will be able to work effectively in a culturally diverse and globalized environment.

For more information contact ODEI by email or by phone at (518) 320-1189