The Journey Toward Inclusive Excellence

Several national organizations have issued calls for academic nursing to create inclusive environments. Inclusive environments are needed given the vast inequities that plague the demography of nursing coupled with the need to serve diverse populations.

This article describes one school's journey toward inclusive excellence. A framework and infrastructure were developed detailing the strategy to enable the school to move toward an environment that supports inclusive excellence.

The framework identified five priority areas to mobilize change: leadership for inclusive excellence, student service delivery and engagement, recruitment retention and advancement, community engagement, and research and scholarship in health equity, along with metrics and measures to monitor progress.

Inclusive excellence is an ongoing journey rather than a destination that requires leadership commitment as well as faculty, staff, and student involvement to create a diverse environment where all individuals feel valued and respected. [.