Black Academic Excellence Initiative
UC San Diego’s Black Academic Excellence Initiative helps strengthen support for our Black campus community and aims to improve the experience of Black faculty, students, and staff.
UC San Diego is committed to improving the university experience for our Black students, staff, and faculty. Through the Black Academic Excellence Initiative (BAEI), the Vice Chancellor of the Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI), Becky Petitt, initiated community conversations and collaborated with campus partners to center what we, as a University, can do to ensure our Black campus community members feel seen and supported. Vice Chancellor Petitt charged the BAEI Advisory Committee to develop recommendations that would improve the experience of Black faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, and staff.
VC-EDI developed the Strategic Plan for Inclusive Excellence, a roadmap to fulfill our vision to be a student-centered, research-focused, service-oriented, public university. The Plan demonstrates our collective commitment to academic and institutional excellence through inclusive excellence. To address the needs of our Black community, we have taken a number of specific measures to ensure a culture of care and belonging on campus consistent with the Strategic Plan.
Our Core Values
There are five core values that guide the Black Academic Excellence Initiative. Drawing on our African ancestry and history, the values are shared in the Swahili language:
- Ubora: Excellence. Valuing Black academic, professional, scholarly, cultural, and institutional excellence.
- Ujima: Community. Collective work and responsibility. Working together as a Triton community to ensure the success of the African American/Black community.
- Heshima: Respect. Valuing and promoting pro-Blackness; respecting the excellence and talents of our Black community at UC San Diego.
- Sankofa: Going back to go forward. The importance of Black/Diasporic history to understand our identity and culture.
- Ubuntu: I am because we are; we are, therefore, I am; the value of collectivism. Humanity is paramount; affirming the humanity of Black people.
Community Voices
Interviews featuring community members who are advancing the mission of the BAEI.
Danielle Simien
CAPS Liaison to the BRC Danielle Simien provides culturally responsive mental health services to underrepresented students.
Adam Burgasser
Professor Adam Burgasser is eager to create more pathways for Black students to thrive in physics and astronomy.
Franklin Garrett
An advocate for diversity in STEM, Franklin Garrett works to uplift students at UC San Diego.
Originating from the Gyaman people of Ghana and la Côte d'Ivoire, the Adinkra symbols below symbolize the principles and ideals of the BAEI.
- Sesa Wo Suban: Reflection, change, transformation.
- Sankofa: One of our BAEI Core Values, meaning learning from the past to build for the future.
- Aya: Endurance, independence, defiance against difficulties.
- Dweninmmen: Strength, humility, wisdom, and learning.
- Nsaa: Excellence, genuineness, authenticity.
Recommendations
The BAEI Committee submitted their recommendations to Enhance the Black experience at UC San Diego. A recommendation implementation work group has been formed to aid in the implementation of the recommendations. Since the submission of the report, several of the student-focused recommendations, including expanding the staff of the BRC and expansion of CAPS counselors to support students’ well-being have been implemented. In regards to faculty recommendations, completed a two-year cluster hire to increase the representation of faculty whose scholarly work is at the intersection of the Black Diaspora and STEM.
BAEI Programming
We invite you to attend our upcoming EDI events that advance the mission of the BAEI.
The Scholarship
The UC San Diego Black Alumni Council in partnership with The San Diego Foundation created a privately administered scholarship for admitted Black undergraduates. UC San Diego is not involved in the selection of the scholarship recipients.
Programmatic Support
Black students thrive in an environment that welcomes and validates all of their identities while nurturing their academic and personal development. This welcome, validation, and nurturing comes in part from faculty and staff who share similar identities and can act as role models and cultural guides as they perform their campus duties. Since this higher level of engagement and support of these students often competes for time faculty and staff need to excel in their chosen fields, our university needs to support them in achieving this critical balance.
With this in mind, the Black Academic Excellence Initiative will garner resources to support the scholarly work of faculty whose scholarly work is focused on the Black diaspora and experience. In addition, the initiative will direct resources towards programs and activities, that are open to all, while emphasizing and elevating the Black experience throughout the campus community.
To learn more about supporting the Black Academic Excellence Initiative, visit our Give page or contact UC San Diego Director of Development John Duca at (858)534-8305 or jduca@ucsd.edu.