Orfalea Vision | Mission | Principles
The vision for the Orfalea College of Business (Orfalea) is to be a transformational leader in experiential business education. We deliver on this vision through an unwavering commitment to our mission: to educate career-ready future business leaders in a polytechnic learn-by-doing environment and produce research that positively influences business and society.
This mission is lived out through our core principles:
Learn-by-Doing
Deliver innovative business education focused on active engagement, reflection, and hands-on experience.
Teacher-Scholar Model
Engage in interconnected teaching and research that advances economic, organizational, and technological theory, policy, and practice.
diversity, equity, and inclusion
Promote belonging and well-being through mutual respect, critical and independent thought, creating equal opportunities, and empowering people to be their authentic selves.
Regeneration
Evaluate and resource academic and professional activities to sustain impact and financial viability.
DEI OBJECTIVES & KEY RESULTS
The DEI Action Plan is comprised of aspirational objectives to guide our actions and key results to assess impact. Progress on our objectives and key results will be assessed and updated on an ongoing basis, continually evolving to meet our goals of creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment.
Objective 1
Build sustainable infrastructure for DEI
KR 1.1 Leadership
- Expand Assistant Dean role to include DEI oversight
- Appoint DEI Faculty Fellow
KR 1.2 Communication
- Update DEI website and create plan for continuous DEI communications
- Operationalize college vision, mission, and principles at Fall conference and college-wide meetings
KR 1.3 External Partnerships
- Increase financial support for the Multicultural Business Program by 50%
- Create need-based scholarship fund to increase students studying abroad by 10% annually
KR 1.4 Shared Governance
- Embed DEI into Faculty governance
- Form DEI student action committee and create structure for DEI Leads within every Orfalea club and Student Services organization
Objective 2
Recruit, retain, and develop
an inclusive and diverse community of students, staff, and faculty
KR 2.1 Culture
- Develop evidenced-based short- and long-term actions to enhance student, faculty, and staff inclusion and belonging
Implement strategy for ongoing listening and communication surrounding DEI, including use of climate survey on a regular basis (in partnership with university) - Develop onboarding structure for faculty and staff
KR 2.2 Education
- Provide professional development opportunities for faculty, staff (e.g., CTLT, certifications), and student DEI leads
- Expand BUS 100 and BUS 206 courses to focus on community, sense of belonging, identity exploration, and inclusive leadership
KR 2.3 Representation
- Embed DEI expectations and review process for faculty hiring
- Increase of underrepresented faculty in Associate and Full Professor positions
- Hire academic advisor dedicated to Multicultural Business Program, transfer students, and students of color
Objective 3
Eliminate gaps in graduation rates and career outcomes for students
KR 3.1 Advising
- Provide proactive advising to underrepresented students to increase graduation rates
KR 3.2 Career Readiness
- Evaluate equity gaps for proactive career advising to increase internship and post-graduation employment
- Finalize student industry pathways matrices to level the understanding and support for career opportunities for all students
KR 3.3 Impact
- Expand the impact of the Multicultural Business Program and transfer student support and mentoring initiative
