Land Acknowledgment

Erie Community College is part of the State University of New York (SUNY), the nation’s largest comprehensive public system of higher education. Since its founding in 1948, SUNY has evolved to meet the changing needs of New York’s students, communities and workforce.

SUNY is committed to serving as the state’s largest strongest economic and quality-of-life driver and providing quality education at an affordable price to New Yorkers and students from across the nation and around the world through its unwavering imperatives: to learn, to search, to serve.

Erie Community College affirms SUNY’s commitment to broad access by providing an excellent education, valuing the benefits of shared experiences, viewpoints, and ideas in a climate of civility and mutual respect and celebrate the rich diversity that exists among us.

Through our EXCELS – Strategic Plan we will seek to create synergies with the themes of our SUNY Chancellor and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as we put Erie Community College’s comprehensive goals into action.

Our Mission

Recognizing the strength of diversity, our mission is to foster an environment which respects, embraces and promotes cultural competence, civil discourse and active engagement in developing an inclusive and vibrant community of scholars who act as transformational agents of change and will become responsible citizens of the world.

Our Values

• Service - We are user-centered, helping, caring, patient, approachable, confidential, respectful, tolerant, and honest. • Education - We value lifelong learning, professional development, striving to improve, willingness to change, free access to information, free speech and impartiality. • Professional Responsibility— We are dedicated and active in the college community, work within our means, are financially responsible, and are team players. • Individual Strengths - In our interaction with users and each other we seek to inspire.

Statement on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

SUNY Erie is committed to supporting and sustaining a diverse and inclusive educational environment that helps students realize their full potential. Diversity, equity and inclusion are not merely goals but values which are embedded throughout the institution in multiple areas including (but not limited to): recruitment, learning, teaching, and student development, and instructional excellence, engagement with the local and global community, outreach and advocacy.

SUNY Erie recognizes that proactive steps are necessary to ensure equality of outcomes. We will continue to cultivate a dynamic and culturally competent faculty, staff and student community who work daily to honor our institutional commitment of respecting and valuing diversity.

Our priority is to promote and celebrate diversity while valuing and sharing the strength of our differences in a safe, positive and nurturing environment. We celebrate the innate and unique value of each and every member of our community.

We commit to supporting students, faculty and staff in developing their understanding, awareness and recognition of the power of diversity, equity and inclusion. We pledge to continually evaluate our systems, policies, curricular frameworks, faculty and staff development, student engagement, resources and communications using an equity lens.