R.I.D.E. website launches with resources for the WFU community

The following is a guest post from Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion José Villalba with details about the R.I.D.E. initiative and the new website:

Last week Wake Forest University officially launched a website devoted to our mission and vision for inclusivity and belonging on our campus: ride.wfu.edu. The website bolsters the work of the R.I.D.E. (Realizing Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity) Framework, which was formally adopted in spring 2020 as our institution’s attempt to ground our collective work towards Inclusive Excellence.

The rationale behind ride.wfu.edu is threefold.

First, it focuses on “what” we are doing as a campus towards increasing a sense of belonging, including the actions we are engaging in that bolster the work. To this end, the website centers not only our institutional vision and mission for R.I.D.E., but also our collective resources for helping academic and administrative departments develop their own R.I.D.E. plans.

Second, the website facilitates sharing “how it’s going” with regard to inclusivity and belonging efforts. To this end, data and related reports are included on the site, in addition to an archive of the work that has been done towards fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion over the last several years. One of those efforts – The President’s Commission on Race, Equity, and Community (2019-2020) – included a recommendation to provide more consistent and transparent diversity data, and this website incorporates suggestions from the Commission.

Third, the website serves as the main method for providing updates to the campus community regarding our collective efforts. For example, President Wente’s recent announcement for honoring professors Crisp, Eure, McPherson, and Phillips appears on the homepage of ride.wfu.edu. Furthermore, there’s a “Community Updates” link that collects recent communications and links to where those can be found.

Ultimately, ride.wfu.edu can be seen as a way to assist prospective students and colleagues – as well as current students and colleagues – in better understanding our institutional mission and vision for our work, a way to better see what we’ve done and what we’re doing, and a space to stay up-to-date on our strides towards inclusive excellence.

The ride.wfu.edu website does not replace the Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s (ODI) current site, diversity.wfu.edu. That website has been around for over a decade and will continue to serve the community. Going forward, the emphasis on this site will center on who at the institution is charged with leading our inclusivity and belonging goals into reality. In addition, diversity.wfu.edu also provides clarity to the community on ODI’s commitments to Wake Forest and its efforts to ensure students, staff, and faculty are prepared to engage in an evermore diverse society. 

As with all new efforts and initiatives, we welcome your feedback for improving our engagement with the campus community. Please share your thoughts with José Villalba at villalja@wfu.edu, or Malika Roman Isler at romanimd@wfu.edu. And please visit ride.wfu.edu often to stay up-to-date on our community progress, as well as resources for you and your departments as we continue our goals for Realizing Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity at Wake Forest University.