Whether you are a Pikes Peak State College student or employee, know that when we
talk about inclusion, we are talking about you.
When we talk about creating a more equitable and welcoming culture, we will look to
you as the co-creator.
We all have a role to play in this exciting and essential work, with the goal of equitable outcomes, and a higher level of student success across the board.
Mission: To advance equity through cultural humility, intentional curriculum, practices, and programming. We cultivate an inclusive and affirming environment by advancing socially just practices fostering a culture of equity, inclusivity, and belonging celebrating human dignity.
Vision: To empower everyone at PPSC through inclusive practices and initiatives upholding a campus environment that honors lived experiences, reveres human dignity, and endures success for all fostering social justice and an affirming, welcoming environment.
Dr. Enrique Romo, Vice President for Student Experience & Equity
Brian Pumilia, Assistant to the Vice President for Student Experience & Equity/Commencement Coordinator
Andrea Hernández, Director of Student Experience & Leadership
Yolanda Harris, Director of the Counseling Center
Kandy Ruiz, Program Director of Single Stop Services
David Lopez, Coordinator for Hispanic Serving Institution
Dr. Enrique Romo, Ph.D., MBA
Vice President for Student Experience and Equity
Centennial Campus - A-324
5675 S. Academy Blvd.
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Office: (719)-502-2014
Enrique.Romo@PikesPeak.edu
Pikes Peak State College has received the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine the following years:
The INSIGHT Into Diversity Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award recognizes colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Pikes Peak State College was awarded the a Military Friendly® Schools distinction the following years:
PPSC received the Military Time Best for Vets: Colleges recognition the following years:
PPSC has also been awarded the Designated Friendly distinction for our exception military and veteran programs and service to military spouses the following years:
The designation acknowledges institutions whose average first generation resident undergraduate student population equals or exceeds the statewide average first generation undergraduate student population for three years (using the most recent available data).
Learn more about our First Generation-Serving Institution Designation
The Pikes Peak State College Marketing and Communications Department received an American Advertising Federal Colorado Springs 2020 Addy Mosaic Award in March 2021. This award recognizes work that promotes diversity and inclusion. PPSC won for a video spot featuring the Jaramillo family.
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
PPSC’s 2023-2028 Strategic Plan recognizes how diversity enriches lives and educational experiences. The Plan embraces equity as a core value central to its mission to “provide high quality, educational opportunities to all with a focus on student success and community needs. As such, Strategic Goal 3, “Commit to Inclusive Excellence and Closing Equity Gaps by Embedding the Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan into College-Wide Practices,” and its associated strategies illustrate PPSC’s commitment to addressing its role in a diverse, multicultural society that is globally connected.
Following the adoption of the 2023-28 strategic plan, the PPSC Division of Student Experience and Equity (SEE), which was established in 2023 developed its own Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) vision and mission statements in support of Strategic Goal 3.
Student Experience and Equity's alignment with PPSC's Strategic Goal 3 includes the following strategies:
Individual differences (e.g., personality, learning styles, and life experiences) and group/social differences (e.g., race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, country of origin, and ability as well as cultural, political, religious, or other affiliations). Association of American Colleges & Universities, 2016
NOTE: Group and social differences are manifested in various forms among our administration, faculty, staff, and students including but not limited to: differences of gender, sex, race, ethnicity, religion, age, nationality, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, language, work classification, military service, socio-economic status, and ability.
Cultural competence is having an awareness of one’s own cultural identity and views about difference, and the ability to learn and build on the varying cultural and community norms of students and their families. It is the ability to understand the within-group differences that make each student unique, while celebrating the between-group variations that make our country a tapestry. This understanding informs and expands teaching practices in the culturally competent educator’s classroom. National Education Association, 2015
The creation of opportunities for historically underrepresented populations to have equal access to and participate in educational programs that are capable of closing the achievement gaps in student success and completion. Association of American Colleges & Universities, 2016
The active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity—in the curriculum, in the co-curriculum, and in communities (intellectual, social, cultural, geographical) with which individuals might connect—in ways that increase awareness, content knowledge, cognitive sophistication, and empathic understanding of the complex ways individuals interact within systems and institutions. Association of American Colleges & Universities, 2016
An educational reform that strives to increase the engagement and motivation of students of color who historically have been both unsuccessful academically and socially alienated from their public schools. Vavrus, 2008, p. 49
The definition consists of four primary elements:
According to Marilyn Cochran-Smith, a leading scholar in education, a social justice framework is one that:
"Actively addresses the dynamics of oppression, privilege, and isms, and recognizes that society is the product of historically rooted, institutionally sanctioned stratification along socially constructed group lines that include race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and ability (among others). Working for social justice means guiding others and being guided in critical self-reflection about the socialization into the matrix of unequal relationships and its implications, analysis of the mechanisms of oppression, and the ability to challenge these hierarchies."
Basically, a social justice framework is a way of seeing and acting aimed at resisting unfairness and inequity while enhancing freedom and possibility for all. It pays primary attention to how people, policies, practices, curricula, and institutions may be used to liberate rather than oppress those least served by our decision making. Sensoy, O. & DiAngelo, R., 2009
Unity is being together or at one with someone or something. It's the opposite of being divided.
1. - n. An undivided or unbroken completeness or totality with nothing wanting. Vocabulary.com, 2017
Fairness is the quality of making judgments that are free from discrimination.
1.A. - n. Conformity with rules or standards, 1.B. - n. Ability to make judgments free from discrimination or dishonesty. Vocabulary.com, 2017
When you value something, you consider it important and worthwhile.
1. - n. The quality (positive or negative) that renders something desirable or valuable. Vocabulary.com, 2017
Belonging is a sense of fitting in or feeling like you are an important member of a group.
1. - n. Happiness felt in a secure relationship. Vocabulary.com, 2017