The Inclusive Excellence Teaching Lab was established in 2020 to promote the transformation of educational culture toward greater inclusion of diverse identities and experiences. It serves as a resource to address the roots and contemporary manifestations of social injustice and the drivers of social change.

Because Quinnipiac is a community that brings together people with different experiences, the lab aims to empower faculty and staff to advance the commitment to inclusive excellence in a broad range of learning and engagement strategies.

The lab represents a partnership between the Provost’s Office, the Department of Cultural and Global Engagement and the Center for Teaching and Learning.

“The lab reflects our commitment to building spaces of inclusive learning that uphold the university’s commitment to academic excellence and personal development,” said Khalilah L. Brown-Dean, associate provost for faculty affairs and founder of the lab. “In this era of tremendous global change, it’s important that we equip our faculty, staff and students with the necessary tools to actively engage in that process.”

Marcos Scauso, assistant professor of political science, and Teresa Twomey, associate professor of nursing, chair of undergraduate nursing and director of global nursing experiences, serve as lab co-chairs.

"In the IETL, we hope to represent the goals of the foundation, the grant, the second pillar of the university and the 10-point plan, making a principled impact on issues of diversity, equity and inclusivity in relation to teaching practices and broader aspects of education,” they said in a joint statement.

The two-year grant was received from the Davis Educational Foundation established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after his retirement as chairman of Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc.

In making the award, trustees for the foundation referred to their discussion with Quinnipiac’s project team as persuasive and believe the proposal clearly represents an institutional priority.