Classics

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CLASSICS AND

Access & Engagement

Classics Department Action Plan
Executive Summary, March 12, 2025

The faculty, students and staff of the University of Tennessee’s Department of Classics view access and engagement as a fundamental ethical, societal, and cultural value. We must engagement with people of all backgrounds and prospective in order to foster outstanding scholarship and teaching, and to work and lead in an increasingly multicultural and global society. We recognize and value diversity in its myriad forms, including status, age, ethnicity, family structure, gender, gender identity, national origin, race, religion and spirituality, sexual orientation, physical ability, socioeconomic background and veteran status. We seek to create and sustain a welcoming environment; to recruit, retain, and support a varied body of students, staff, and faculty; to prepare students to learn, research, teach, and advocate in a multicultural world; to foster scholarship that is multiculturally informed; and to further inclusion by developing and strengthening campus and community partnerships. We support intellectual endeavors from all directions, so long as they use the evidentiary standards of the discipline.

The ancient Mediterranean world has long been a source of examples for later generations to use in the pursuit of their own interests, for better and for worse. In agreement with the Public Statement from the Board of Directors of the Society for Classical Studies, the national organization of research Classicists (https://classicalstudies.org/scs-news/public-statement-scs-board-directors), we condemn “the use of texts, ideals, and images of the Greek and Roman world to promote racism or a view of the Classical world as the unique inheritance of a falsely imagined and narrowly-conceived western civilization.” The appropriation of the ancient world for the promoting of hatred and racism is injurious and wrong. The study of history requires a mature understanding of the past in all its failures and virtues, and the role that history has in the present.

Goal 1: Create and sustain a welcoming, supportive, and inclusive campus climate that allows for respectful interaction and viewpoint diversity.

Objectives:

  • Objective 1: Annually assess the department’s overall progress in meeting the goals laid out in the DAP
  • Objective 2: Involve all departmental constituencies in promotion of access and engagement
  • Objective 3: Monitor departmental well-being in terms of access and engagement
  • Objective 4: Educate, encourage, and support professional development for faculty, staff, and undergraduate and graduate students related to access and engagement
  • Objective 5: Ensure departmental events that welcome speakers from underrepresented groups and foster dialogues related to access, engagement, and justice
  • Objective 6: Update and enhance our online presence pertaining to access and engagement in Classics
  • Objective 7: Reward commitment to access and engagement by faculty, staff, and students.

Goal 2: Attract and retain greater numbers of individuals from historically underrepresented populations into faculty, staff, and administrative positions (particularly department heads, directors, deans, and vice chancellors).

Objectives:

  • Objective 1: Identify and recruit faculty and staff from varied backgrounds and underrepresented populations following OED guidelines
  • Objective 2: Make every effort to create a welcoming and nurturing environment faculty and staff of any background

Goal 3: Attract, retain, and graduate increasing numbers of undergraduate and graduate students from historically underrepresented populations and international students.

Objectives:

  • Objective 1: Attract more students from underrepresented populations
  • Objective 2: Recruit and retain graduate students from underrepresented groups.
  • Objective 3: Foster professional development among students from underrepresented groups

Goal 4: Develop and strengthen partnerships with communities throughout Tennessee and globally

Objectives:

  • Objective 1: Foster an understanding of multiculturalism in antiquity among the general population

Goal 5: Prepare undergraduate and graduate students to work and to serve in a multicultural world by affording them the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to be a productive and contributing citizen of this state and nation and capable of competing in a global society.

Objectives:

Objective 1: Foster among our students an understanding of multiculturalism in antiquity, and reflect on how it differed from that in current western culture. 

Objective 2: Foster among our students a greater understanding of different cultures in the modern world.

Resources

Office of Omsbuds Services
The Office of Ombuds Services serves as an independent, impartial, confidential, and informal resource for UT Knoxville. It provides the university community with an informal channel of conflict resolution and allows faculty and staff to obtain access to impartial and honest resolution of problems.

Office of Access and Engagement

Office of Equal Opportunity and Accessibility

Office of Community Engagement and Outreach

Office of Assessment, Culture, and Education

Council for Diversity and Inclusion

Center for Health Education and Wellness

Teaching and Learning Innovation

Campus Climate Concerns

Free Speech at UT

Mattering and Belonging

Funding Opportunities

Scholarships and Fellowships

Internal

External

Awards

Internal

External