Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing

Inclusive Excellence

A transformative approach to educating nurses, healthcare teams, and our communities to be more diverse, inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist.

THE MARCELLA NIEHOFF SCHOOL OF NURSING is committed to ensuring that our nursing students and educators are engaging in anti-racist actions to build a more socially-just world. Aligning with, and innovating beyond, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine’s The Future of Nursing 2020-2030 report, we have dedicated resources, time, and energy to educate students, faculty, staff, and our surrounding communities to be more diverse, inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist. We will accomplish this goal through a comprehensive approach guided by the tenets of Inclusive Excellence: intrapersonal awareness, interpersonal awareness, curriculum transformation, inclusive pedagogy, and inclusive learning environments.

Inclusive Excellence requires us to build equity-minded leadership capacity where all members of the School of Nursing recognize patterns of inequity, take responsibility for student success and outcomes, and take a race-conscious, socio-historical understanding of exclusionary practices in nursing and nursing education.

Our guiding principles:

Implement a vision and strategy that supports evidence-based and equitable initiatives to recruit, retain, and increase success for historically marginalized and underrepresented students, faculty, and staff.
Develop and sustain inclusive and representative educational learning environments.
Create and change policy to institutionalize these principles.
Become a national leader and model for inclusive excellence and anti-racism in nursing education.

42%

undergraduate student of color enrollment

17%

full-time faculty of color

74%

of faculty participated in DEI trainings

Get involved in Inclusive Excellence at the School of Nursing. Explore Events!

Resources

Anti-racist actions and thoughts require us to understand how racially diverse groups experience society and how systemic inequity requires us all to take actions to eradicate those systems. Explore our many resources to learn more about anti-racist initiatives and practices at Loyola and beyond.

Loyola Resources

MNSON Inclusive Excellence Policy Statements

Inclusive excellence statement

Working toward inclusive excellence includes building intrapersonal and interpersonal awareness, engaging in curriculum transformation, teaching with an inclusive pedagogy, and building inclusive learning environments. We recognize that our community is strengthened by the diversity of our students, faculty, and staff along the social dimensions of race, color, religion, biological sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, parental status, military/veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are especially committed to helping our nation create a culture of health, promote health equity to reduce health disparities, and improve the health and well-being of all, especially for those groups who experience the health system disparately due to systemic oppressions.

This policy should be included in the following documents. The policy can also be included in other MNSON documents (e.g., syllabi) if desired.

Student handbook
Job postings
MNSON website
Strategic Plan
MNSON Sharepoint

Chosen name and pronouns statement

Class rosters and university data systems are provided to instructors with only students’ legal names presented. Knowing that not all students use their legal names or identify with a gender that aligns with their sex assigned at birth, faculty members/I will use the name and/or personal pronouns you use. If you choose, you may email the faculty member/me directly to share your information. Additionally, if these change at any point during the semester, please let the faculty member/me know. For more information on how to change your name in LOCUS, please visit the Preferred Name Policy here.

This policy should be included in the following documents. The policy can also be included in other MNSON documents (e.g., syllabi) if desired.

Student handbook

MNSON-Related Resources and Documents

Title	Link
Inclusive Excellence in Clinical Settings: Clinical Faculty Training	Launch
Monkeypox: Eradicating a virus through removing stigma and shame	Download PDF Watch Recording (p/c:GC!mMSx8)
4 Tips for Creating Inclusive and Anti-Racist Classrooms	Download PDF
Using Validation Theory as a Tool for Student Success	Download PDF
Inclusive Excellence Policies '22	Download PDF

Spiritual and Theological Resources

Click the title to view

Title	Purpose
Ignatian Solidarity Network \| An Examen for White Allies	An Examen for White Allies.
The assumptions of white privilege and what we can do about it	A powerful reflection on white privilege using the example of Amy Cooper. Massingale integrates a theological-ethical argument for examining and dismantling white privilege.
Video lecture at Notre Dame	Matthew Cressler in a lecture at Notre Dame argues that centering stories of Black Catholics requires us to reimagine broader histories of American Catholicism.
Toward a Catholic Understanding of the Phrase “Black Lives Matter"	An explanation behind the cry “Black Lives Matter”.
The Church and Racism: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness	Clarence Williams, CPPS, Ph.D. helps the Church yet to find its voice to address racism, by speaking about Racial Sobriety as a way forward.
Prayers for Racial Justice and Reconciliation	They’re different prayers about racial injustice for people to think about
Prayer for the elimination of racism	This is a prayer to eliminate racism by the Sisters Of Mercy.
Ad hoc committee against racism	These are two videos, a prayer, the latest information, and more resources provided by the United Conference Of Catholic Bishops.
Combatting racism - parish resources	Another resource from the United Conference of Catholic Bishops which contains links to various PDFs composed of prayers and backgrounders.
General Congregation 34, Decree 3 Our Mission and Justice	Jesuits decide to address more urgent calls for justice and taking more steps to address these injustices that are happening.
Bishops Letter: Open Wide Our Hearts	This addresses Catholics and how to open oneself for learning and addressing ways they can start making differences within their family.
A Message on George Floyd †, Race and Jesuit Education	The president of Loyola High School explains the Ignatian duty to teach and to change internally.
We Stand…	This highlights the disparities that are happening with COVID-19 and urges people to see each other as one.
Standing Together in the Community of God	This book touches on how the Church is present and how God is then present within us and around us.
6 guidelines I’ve learned for talking about race	This resource seems to fall into both the interpersonal and theological categories as it is a step-by-step guide to bring about anti-racism within oneself.
Black History Month: Confronting the Mixed History of the Jesuits	Reconcile the history that Catholics and Jesuits have played in continuing racism in their communities.
The Ignatian Witness to Truth in a Climate of Injustice	To give ways that those in higher education can take steps to address racism within themselves and their community and actively work for change.
Statement: Catholic Theologians for Police Reform and Racial Justice	A call to action from Catholic theologians on police reform and racial justice.
Black theology and a legacy of oppression	A leading Catholic theologian offers an overview of black theology written for a popular audience.
Bryan Massingale, Racial Justice in the Catholic Church	A must-read for faith formation and education around racism and Catholic social thought.
After George Floyd’s Suffocation: A Litany for Oxygen From a Black Jesuit	A priest recounts how George Floyd only wanted to breathe, which is something God gave everyone the right to do, so it’s not right for black people to be denied it.
Bishop Seitz Letter	This letter focuses on anti-Latino racism that exists and also must be addressed.
Racism is a Soul Sickness, Can Jesuit Spirituality Help Us Heal?	An article about how racism is within us, so we must turn to God and ask for strength to unite and heal our society.
Letter from Birmingham Jail	MLK writes about how The Civil Rights Movement is for people to finally be granted their God-given rights, along with their constitutional rights.
Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World	Article about how as the world changes, the church must adjust according to the Bible and recognize how to address injustices that persist.
Shawn Copeland Enfleshing Freedom: Body, Race, and Being	Copeland interprets Christology and sacramental theology with an intersectional lens.
In the fight against racism, white Christians must break cycle of distraction	To get people to stop the cycle of caring only to pretend racial injustice doesn’t exist anymore.
Catholic Social Teaching (CST) and Racism	How people need to address racism in themselves and their communities to end it due to being morally unjust.
How Can Catholics help lead the fight against racism?	Ways that Catholics can bring the BLM movement into their spaces to hear what is needed and take action instead of being silent.
The church must make reparation for its role in slavery, segregation	Shannen Dee Williams is a leading Catholic historian whose work examines racism in the Catholic Church and provides a theological argument for reparation.
Kelly Brown Douglass, Stand your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God	Written after the murder of Trayvon Martin, Douglass examines how the myth of white supremacy was supported by the idea of Christian exceptionalism. She offers a critical womanist perspective to challenge this myth.
The Assumption of White Privilege and What We Can Do About It	The article highlights what Catholics should do to make more active efforts against racism within our communities.
Arrupe Letter to North American Jesuits on Race	Arrupe wrote the letter to emphasize how dire action is needed and that the Jesuits can’t let it continue.
Pastoral Letter on Racism	The letter emphasizes how racism exists within the Church’s system and how it needs to be fixed by people actively working on themselves and their community.
Beyond Apology	Reconciling the impact of Jesuits on native communities.

Thank you to the Jesuits West Collaborative Organizing for Racial Justice for aggregating many of these resources.

Definitions

The School of Nursing's Inclusive Excellence Task Force has defined several important terms to establish a shared lexicon for faculty, staff, and students. Important to understanding these terms is that they all must be understood together and in relationship with each other.

Diversity

Defined broadly, diversity refers to the vast array of salient, socially constructed, and value-laden identities across humankind, inclusive of but not limited to age, citizenship, class, color, disability, gender identity and expression, national origin, race, religion, and sexual identity. More specifically, diversity refers to historically oppressed and marginalized groups who because of oppressive social systems are underrepresented in U.S. higher education.

Inclusion

Inclusion refers to how institutional practices, policies, and habits transform to include diverse people and perspectives, especially those from historically oppressed groups. The ongoing and adaptive practice of inclusion impacts campus culture and climate.

Equity

The process of modifying practices that have intentionally disadvantaged a particular group so that all people in that group have an equal opportunity to thrive, succeed, and reach their goals. The process is ongoing, requiring us to recognize that we do not all start from the same place and must acknowledge and adjust to imbalances arising from oppressive social systems.

Intersectionality

The interconnected nature of social systems inclusive of but not limited to ageism, xenophobia, classism, colorism, ableism, heteronormativity, racism, religious oppression, and transantagonism. These systems create overlapping and interdependent systems of oppression that help explain the complexity of human experiences.

Equality

Every individual has the same opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents. Equality is the distribution of the same resources and opportunities to every individual across a population. Equality aims to promote fairness and must be paired with equitable practices. To have equal systems, all people should be treated fairly, unhampered by stereotypes, biases, or prejudices.

Social Justice

Social justice entails identifying and contesting social policy and processes in which power and privilege create inequitable outcomes for marginalized groups that inhibit their democratic empowerment, health equity, health access, and civil and human rights. When injustices occur, the aim is to identify solutions to remove systemic barriers and create equitable access and opportunities for all.

Antiracism

Ongoing actions against racial hatred, bias, systemic racism, and the oppression of historically oppressed and minoritized groups. Anti-racist work institutionalizes policy and programs that address racism.

Microaggression

The everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership.

Implicit Bias

Attitudes, beliefs, prejudices, and stereotypes that are activated without awareness or intentional control that may impact our understanding, actions, or decisions.

Civility

Civility is treating one another with respect and inherent dignity of human worth through our words and actions. Civility does not mean that we will agree on everything or that our disagreements can hide behind “niceness”; rather civility includes listening, acknowledging, valuing, and collaborating without degrading someone else in the process.

Systemic Racism

Any embedded policies, laws, practices, and social and cultural norms that perpetuate and sanction racial inequities against people of color.

Discrimination

The unfair and unjustifiable treatment of individuals or groups based on (but not limited to) their race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, social class, physical ability or attributes, religious or ethical values system, national origin, and political beliefs.

Research, data, and documents

Books and articles

Asian/Asian American and Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian

Whiteness

Settler Colonialism and Decolonization

Diversity in Academic Nursing Education

Native American, American Indian, Indigenous, First Peoples

Racism and Anti-Racism

2SLGBTQA+

Diversity

Classroom Inclusion

Admissions and Holistic Admissions

Undocumented, DACA Students

Social Justice Action

Disability and Ableism

International Students

Learning race in a U.S. context: An emergent framework on the perceptions of race among foreign-born students of color | Journal of Diversity in Higher Education

Climate Assessment

At Loyola Nursing, we seek to create an environment characterized by openness, fairness, and equal access for all students, staff, and faculty. A welcoming and inclusive campus climate is grounded in mutual respect, nurtured by dialogue, evidenced by a pattern of civil interaction, and is one of the foundations of our educational model. Creating and maintaining a community environment that respects individual needs, abilities, and potential is critically important.

During the 2022 Spring semester, Loyola Nursing will undertake a vital and relevant climate assessment. This is our chance to make a difference in Loyola Nursing’s future, our opportunity to make positive, lasting changes and to help create a more inclusive campus. To ensure full transparency and to provide a more complete perspective, we have contracted with Rankin & Associates Consulting, LLC, to help lead this effort. Rankin & Associates Consulting, LLC, has conducted over 200 campus climate assessment projects over the last 20 years.

Contact Us

Dian Squire, PhD

Founding Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence

Faculty photo for Dian Squire 200x200

Programs

Jessica Martinez stands in her nursing scrubs outside Arrupe College on Loyola's Water Tower Campus

CARE Pathway to BSN

Short for Collaboration, Access, Resources, and Equity (CARE), this Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant program aims to increase the representation of and success of Black and Latinx nursing students by creating a supported pathway from Loyola’s Arrupe College to the Loyola Nursing.

Students participate in a telehealth simulation in the Walgreens Family Virtual Hospital on the Health Sciences Campus

Gender in Nursing

What is gender identity? Gender expression? Gender neutral and gender affirming pronouns? This mini-series of programs will help faculty and staff learn about how to understand the diversity of gender and how to build the most inclusive learning environments for all students.

MORE EVENTS

Critical Pedagogy Fireside

This series offers a chance to have conversations on utilizing a critical and inclusive pedagogy in any aspect of our lives, including the classroom. Attendees may attend any one part of the series; however, the series parts build up on each previous fireside chat.

PARTICIPATE

News

News Spotlight

Meet the Founding Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence

In August 2021, the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing welcomed its Founding Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence Dian Squire. A Rambler himself, Squire earned his PhD in Higher Education from Loyola in 2015, during which he led multiple initiatives to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

News Spotlight

Understanding the true meaning of patient care

In spring 2020, Peggy and Tom created a generous endowment, which will fund scholarships for students in the BSN Pathway, a new program the School of Nursing developed in partnership with Loyola’s Arrupe College.

A transformative approach to educating nurses, healthcare teams, and our communities to be more diverse, inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist.

Our guiding principles:

Implement a vision and strategy that supports evidence-based and equitable initiatives to recruit, retain, and increase success for historically marginalized and underrepresented students, faculty, and staff.
Develop and sustain inclusive and representative educational learning environments.
Create and change policy to institutionalize these principles.
Become a national leader and model for inclusive excellence and anti-racism in nursing education.

Get involved in Inclusive Excellence at the School of Nursing. Explore Events!

Resources

Loyola Resources

MNSON Inclusive Excellence Policy Statements

Inclusive excellence statement

This policy should be included in the following documents. The policy can also be included in other MNSON documents (e.g., syllabi) if desired.

Student handbook
Job postings
MNSON website
Strategic Plan
MNSON Sharepoint

Chosen name and pronouns statement

This policy should be included in the following documents. The policy can also be included in other MNSON documents (e.g., syllabi) if desired.

Student handbook

MNSON-Related Resources and Documents

Title	Link
Inclusive Excellence in Clinical Settings: Clinical Faculty Training	Launch
Monkeypox: Eradicating a virus through removing stigma and shame	Download PDF Watch Recording (p/c:GC!mMSx8)
4 Tips for Creating Inclusive and Anti-Racist Classrooms	Download PDF
Using Validation Theory as a Tool for Student Success	Download PDF
Inclusive Excellence Policies '22	Download PDF

Spiritual and Theological Resources

Click the title to view

Title	Purpose
Ignatian Solidarity Network \| An Examen for White Allies	An Examen for White Allies.
The assumptions of white privilege and what we can do about it	A powerful reflection on white privilege using the example of Amy Cooper. Massingale integrates a theological-ethical argument for examining and dismantling white privilege.
Video lecture at Notre Dame	Matthew Cressler in a lecture at Notre Dame argues that centering stories of Black Catholics requires us to reimagine broader histories of American Catholicism.
Toward a Catholic Understanding of the Phrase “Black Lives Matter"	An explanation behind the cry “Black Lives Matter”.
The Church and Racism: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness	Clarence Williams, CPPS, Ph.D. helps the Church yet to find its voice to address racism, by speaking about Racial Sobriety as a way forward.
Prayers for Racial Justice and Reconciliation	They’re different prayers about racial injustice for people to think about
Prayer for the elimination of racism	This is a prayer to eliminate racism by the Sisters Of Mercy.
Ad hoc committee against racism	These are two videos, a prayer, the latest information, and more resources provided by the United Conference Of Catholic Bishops.
Combatting racism - parish resources	Another resource from the United Conference of Catholic Bishops which contains links to various PDFs composed of prayers and backgrounders.
General Congregation 34, Decree 3 Our Mission and Justice	Jesuits decide to address more urgent calls for justice and taking more steps to address these injustices that are happening.
Bishops Letter: Open Wide Our Hearts	This addresses Catholics and how to open oneself for learning and addressing ways they can start making differences within their family.
A Message on George Floyd †, Race and Jesuit Education	The president of Loyola High School explains the Ignatian duty to teach and to change internally.
We Stand…	This highlights the disparities that are happening with COVID-19 and urges people to see each other as one.
Standing Together in the Community of God	This book touches on how the Church is present and how God is then present within us and around us.
6 guidelines I’ve learned for talking about race	This resource seems to fall into both the interpersonal and theological categories as it is a step-by-step guide to bring about anti-racism within oneself.
Black History Month: Confronting the Mixed History of the Jesuits	Reconcile the history that Catholics and Jesuits have played in continuing racism in their communities.
The Ignatian Witness to Truth in a Climate of Injustice	To give ways that those in higher education can take steps to address racism within themselves and their community and actively work for change.
Statement: Catholic Theologians for Police Reform and Racial Justice	A call to action from Catholic theologians on police reform and racial justice.
Black theology and a legacy of oppression	A leading Catholic theologian offers an overview of black theology written for a popular audience.
Bryan Massingale, Racial Justice in the Catholic Church	A must-read for faith formation and education around racism and Catholic social thought.
After George Floyd’s Suffocation: A Litany for Oxygen From a Black Jesuit	A priest recounts how George Floyd only wanted to breathe, which is something God gave everyone the right to do, so it’s not right for black people to be denied it.
Bishop Seitz Letter	This letter focuses on anti-Latino racism that exists and also must be addressed.
Racism is a Soul Sickness, Can Jesuit Spirituality Help Us Heal?	An article about how racism is within us, so we must turn to God and ask for strength to unite and heal our society.
Letter from Birmingham Jail	MLK writes about how The Civil Rights Movement is for people to finally be granted their God-given rights, along with their constitutional rights.
Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World	Article about how as the world changes, the church must adjust according to the Bible and recognize how to address injustices that persist.
Shawn Copeland Enfleshing Freedom: Body, Race, and Being	Copeland interprets Christology and sacramental theology with an intersectional lens.
In the fight against racism, white Christians must break cycle of distraction	To get people to stop the cycle of caring only to pretend racial injustice doesn’t exist anymore.
Catholic Social Teaching (CST) and Racism	How people need to address racism in themselves and their communities to end it due to being morally unjust.
How Can Catholics help lead the fight against racism?	Ways that Catholics can bring the BLM movement into their spaces to hear what is needed and take action instead of being silent.
The church must make reparation for its role in slavery, segregation	Shannen Dee Williams is a leading Catholic historian whose work examines racism in the Catholic Church and provides a theological argument for reparation.
Kelly Brown Douglass, Stand your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God	Written after the murder of Trayvon Martin, Douglass examines how the myth of white supremacy was supported by the idea of Christian exceptionalism. She offers a critical womanist perspective to challenge this myth.
The Assumption of White Privilege and What We Can Do About It	The article highlights what Catholics should do to make more active efforts against racism within our communities.
Arrupe Letter to North American Jesuits on Race	Arrupe wrote the letter to emphasize how dire action is needed and that the Jesuits can’t let it continue.
Pastoral Letter on Racism	The letter emphasizes how racism exists within the Church’s system and how it needs to be fixed by people actively working on themselves and their community.
Beyond Apology	Reconciling the impact of Jesuits on native communities.

Thank you to the Jesuits West Collaborative Organizing for Racial Justice for aggregating many of these resources.

Definitions

Diversity

Inclusion

Equity

Intersectionality

Equality

Social Justice

Antiracism

Microaggression

Implicit Bias

Attitudes, beliefs, prejudices, and stereotypes that are activated without awareness or intentional control that may impact our understanding, actions, or decisions.

Civility

Systemic Racism

Any embedded policies, laws, practices, and social and cultural norms that perpetuate and sanction racial inequities against people of color.

Discrimination

Research, data, and documents

Books and articles

Asian/Asian American and Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian

Whiteness

Settler Colonialism and Decolonization

Diversity in Academic Nursing Education

Native American, American Indian, Indigenous, First Peoples

Racism and Anti-Racism

2SLGBTQA+

Diversity

Classroom Inclusion

Admissions and Holistic Admissions

Undocumented, DACA Students

Social Justice Action

Disability and Ableism

International Students

Learning race in a U.S. context: An emergent framework on the perceptions of race among foreign-born students of color | Journal of Diversity in Higher Education

Climate Assessment

Contact Us

Dian Squire, PhD

Founding Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence

Faculty photo for Dian Squire 200x200