About

Message From Dr. Beavers

Melvin BeaversDiversity, Equity, and Inclusion mean providing leadership, resources, and support to faculty, staff, and students that will ultimately enrich their time at the university. The goal of the diversity, equity, and inclusion at UA Little Rock is to help support existing efforts to recruit and retain faculty, staff, and students. Additionally, we hope to integrate diversity and amplify curriculum that speaks experiences and knowledge from historically underrepresented and marginalized groups of people. Ultimately, the UA Little Rock DEI charge is to create and sustain a welcoming and inclusive campus experience for all.

Chancellor’s DEI Fellow

The Chancellor’s Fellow for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is responsible for coordinating and supporting all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives on campus including DEI training, diversity recruitment and retention for both students and employees, program development, curricular development, and policy advising. The DEI Fellow advises the Chancellor and the Chancellor’s Cabinet on DEI matters and sits in on both the Chancellor’s Cabinet and the Chancellor’s Race and Ethnicity Advisory Committee. The DEI Fellow may serve in ex officio capacity on other committees or councils such as the University’s Diversity Council. The DEI Fellow engages a broad-based constituency including faculty, staff, and students.

Land Acknowledgement Statement

We acknowledge that our campus is located on the traditional and ancestral lands of the Quapaw and Osage people, who cultivated the land as sophisticated societies through an array of reciprocal relationships with one another and with other human relatives. We recognize that a portion of the Trail of Tears runs through our campus, and that the Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), Chickasaw and Seminole Nations also lived in the land that is now Arkansas during their forced removal. These lands continue to carry the stories of these Nations and their struggles for survival and identity.

In light of the Trail of Tears passing through our campus, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has a particular responsibility to acknowledge the peoples of these lands, as well as the histories of dispossession. We reflect on and actively address these histories. This challenges us to learn about the history, culture, and continued presence of the Native people who have contributed and continue to contribute to our community. And it is only a starting point as we move forward with a commitment to improving our relationship with Tribal Nations and their members.