Making excellence inclusive

One of the goals of the American Chemical Society approval program for bachelor’s degree programs in chemistry is to promote excellence in educating and training chemists. The Committee on Professional Training (CPT) facilitates this process by defining guidelines and reviewing undergraduate chemistry programs. Recently, the Association of the American Colleges and Universities adopted “inclusive excellence” as a guiding principle. The association recognizes that to address gaps in student success, there must be an active process through which colleges and universities achieve excellence in learning, teaching, student development, institutional functioning, and engagement in local and global communities. Making excellence inclusive in chemistry education requires looking at excellence through a lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and it requires the engagement of all students, faculty, staff, and administration. A discussion of DEI and inclusive excellence begins with a working definition of diversity. Frequently, diversity is taken as a synonym for differences