Tiffin University set to open center for ‘InterculTUral Excellence’ led by Nadia Lewis

Tiffin, Ohio — Tiffin University (TU) is pleased to announce the upcoming opening of its Center for InterculTUral Excellence on January 1, 2022.

This decision was made in light of the University’s success with its affiliate program, Celebrating Cultural Uniqueness at Tiffin University (see below) and the community’s desire to share its expertise with other organizations seeking to employ similar efforts.

In 2016, TU amended its prior initiative to be conscious of the need for workplace diversity and inclusion to being strictly committed to implementing such practices within its circles.

This movement was called Celebrating Cultural Uniqueness at Tiffin University, or CCU@TU, and was spearheaded by Tiffin’s President, Dr. Lillian Schumacher.

The platform was structured around the three guiding principles of diversity, equity and inclusion, with the primary goal(s) of encouraging participants to both think deeply about and unlearn their respective biases and to be advocates for traditionally underrepresented voices.

It was TU’s hope that this would foster not only a workplace environment that would welcome, celebrate and respect cross-cultural differences but an undergraduate curriculum for all students that would result in global diversity competency development.

To achieve the above goal, TU created a core undergraduate curriculum that results in each alumnus being competent on the subject of global diversity.

Additionally, the University began offering a Ph.D. Program in Global Leadership and Change and now requires all employees and board members to undergo a seven-month training program entitled Building Cultural Competencies within Organizations.

The certificate awarded upon completion ensures others that cultural awareness is part of each graduate’s repertoire. Finally, TU employed a set of guidelines to be upheld by external stakeholders in their endeavors, in the interest of preserving the University’s promise to create robust opportunities for all members of the community and beyond.

Tiffin University’s Office of Marketing and Communication reached out to Dr. Schumacher for comment on the opening of the Center, and she responded with the following:

“I am proud of the TU family for its continued dedication to introspection and growth. Since the creation of CCU@TU in 2016, I have remained unwavering in my position that the Dragon family can and should go the extra mile to ensure our campus becomes and remains a place of equal opportunity and comfort for people of all cultures and backgrounds and that we promise our students that we will graduate them with a needed and relevant set of skills for working with individuals who are different than them. Settling for ‘good’ will never be good enough, and the opening of the Center is further evidence that our institution will never be complacent, but always poised to act and improve. I am so excited by this new development, and look forward to the positive changes the Center will spark not only for TU, but other organizations across the country.”

Nadia Lewis, former Associate Vice President of TU’s Office of Human Resources will be promoted to the title of Vice President within the same department, in addition to becoming the first Vice President of TU’s Center for InterculTUral Excellence. 

As the Center will soon be the new home for Tiffin’s Office of Equity Access and Opportunity, Office of Human Resources as well as several associated departments, the primary function of her hybrid position will be the simultaneous strategic oversight of the Human Resources team, and the development and successful execution of the Center.

Nadia has played an integral part in TU’s internal and external work in the area(s) of diversity and inclusion, and this promotion will allow her to continue these efforts on a wider scale, providing aid to those outside TU’s immediate communities.