Community + Values Initiative

#YouBelongAtDU

People yearn to feel connection and a sense of belonging, even as they pursue their individual goals. This is especially true at the University of Denver, where we create knowledge, strive to have an impact, and are dedicated to the public good.

Community + Values is the focused and empathic work we are doing as a community, to strengthen ourselves from within. We strive to be doers, amplifiers, and connectors in our community. The initiative began in spring 2019 as a way to compose a collective narrative that creates a greater sense of shared values and belonging. We have invited and connected with thousands of faculty, staff, students and alumni to contribute their voices and energy and help us explore. And, that’s exactly what they have been doing.

The result has been a series of community conversations, events and initiatives that have helped us understand the opportunities we have as a community to create a greater sense of belonging for all. We know that DU does not yet feel like “home” to everyone who wants to belong, and we want to change that. We also know that many already feel entirely comfortable at DU, and we want to amplify those experiences.

We want to hear from you. Your voice and your heart belong in this work. DU is your home. It’s our home.

C+V Featured Events, Updates & Initiatives

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Pathways to Community

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Explore

Who are we as a community?

Through this pathway, we actively explore and build community through various events, programs, webinars, and dialogic sessions. We explore the following questions: How do we build community and show up for one another, within and across our disciplines, divisions, departments, and communities? And how does our identity as an academic institution shape, benefit and inspire community for everyone connected to DU, regardless of the role they play?

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Experience

What is our collective relationship?

How do we access, create and live in community—individually, in small collectives and as a whole? As we share our stories, we learn about the real differences in the ways we experience community. As well, some patterns of our shared values have emerged. Activities include a Community Voices, increased presence of social media highlights, and featuring the work of our amazing community members via the You Rock! Awards program.

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Evolve

How do our systems and structures reflect our values in action?

We create and adopt practices, and hold ourselves accountable to making decisions that reflect our communal commitments. We draw on the employee engagement and COACHE surveys and campus climate work, expand our use of inclusive pedagogy tools and resources through the Inclusive Teaching Practices website, and create community-led workshops and conversations for defining our shared values and how we imagine living them.

C+V Happenings & Communications

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The Launch of DU Story Mosaic: Sharing Stories, Building Community - A Storytelling Initiative:

The DU Story Mosaic is a cross-campus collaboration that recognizes the incredible power of storytelling. Modeled after the Human Library and building on our C+V Community Voices work, this initiative aims to bring together the entire DU Community to engage in a meaningful exchange of our unique stories. Our hope is that community members listen, learn from each other, and practice reflection to experience personal growth in the process. We also seek to inspire change within our organization through storytelling. The Mosaic will offer participants the opportunity to share stories through a variety of creative expressions to cultivate an embodied community experience where everyone can feel safe to be vulnerable and their authentic selves.

Learn More about the Story Mosaic
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Celebrating Heritage Months

DU is committed to living our values of diversity and inclusion. Our community and institutional success is dependent on how well we engage and embrace the rich diversity of our faculty, staff, administrators, students and alumni. With that shared value in mind and in partnership with Human Resources & Inclusive Community (HRIC), the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI)The Cultural CenterCommunity + Values, and the Staff of Color Association (SOCA), we will celebrate the identities and histories of members of the DU and world communities each month through through features and events. 

Learn More about Heritage Months
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A Letter to the DU Community from C+V: In Solidarity & Strength

Read Community + Value’s full letter to the DU community in response to the continued violence against Black people with the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Ahmaud Arbery. The C+V Steering Committee refuses to stand by in silence or passivity and let this systemic violence and crimes against Black people and their lives continue to happen. We reassert, in the strongest terms, our continued stance against institutional racism, violence, bias, hate, and injustice. 

Read Now

Featured C+V Community Talks

A Community Driven by Purpose

"I deeply believe in what we are doing here at the University of Denver. We're developing the lives of future generations of individuals who will go out and change the world and be a part of our communities." 
Chancellor Jeremy Haefner

Want to catch up on C+V Community Talks?

Visit our C+V YouTube Playlist

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Inclusive Teaching Practices | Office of Teaching & Learning

Growing from Community + Values

Led by Valentina Iturbe-LaGrave, PhD, Director for Inclusive Teaching Practices and Co-Lead of the Community+Values initiative, this project aims to solve complex problems, engage multiple perspectives, foster greater belonging, show compassion beyond boundaries and shape the future of our world. This is inclusive teaching at the University of Denver.

Learn More

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