Skip to content
SUNY GCC - Genesee Community College

Diversity is an asset at GCC! We are proud to host students from over 20 countries, as well as U.S. students, faculty, and staff from culturally rich urban and rural areas. We embrace the many experiences and perspectives each member brings to our campus community and value the variety of ways diversity is represented on our campus, which include:

  • addiction/recovery status
  • age
  • body size and shape
  • criminal background
  • gender and gender identity/expression
  • geographic background
  • housing status
  • learning style
  • linguistic background
  • mental health status
  • military or veteran status
  • national or ethnic origin
  • physical and intellectual ability
  • political affiliation
  • race
  • religion or religious creed
  • sex and sexual orientation
  • socioeconomic class

One GCC

One GCC is a new campaign to showcase what each ONE of us is doing to promote Inclusive Excellence on campus. Are you mentoring ONE underrepresented student or a new employee? Are you using more culturally-themed materials in your curriculum or expanding the visual representation of people of color in your materials? Are you and your work buddies participating in ONE of the many cultural competency professional development opportunities? Are you a student embracing inclusion and making new friends?

If so, please Follow Us on Facebook and share the wonderful things that you are doing. Remember, even though we are individually unique and special, we are all here to form ONE supportive and inclusive educational community.

OneGCC logo

About Inclusive Excellence

Strategic Plan

Genesee Community College is committed to celebrating diversity, ensuring equity, and creating an environment where all of our students, faculty, and staff feel valued and included. With a promise to focus on these efforts, one of the five priorities of our new Strategic Plan (2018-2023) is to, “Cultivate a community that fosters respect and appreciation for individual and group differences. Demonstrate our commitment to the values of equity, diversity, and inclusion throughout all endeavors.” The specific objectives we hope to achieve are as follows:

  • Increase recruitment, retention, and completion of underrepresented student populations.
  • Create opportunities to help students develop competencies associated with equity, diversity, and inclusion within courses, certificates, and/or degree programs.
  • Expand co-curricular and student life opportunities that will foster interactions to help students develop competencies associated with diversity, inclusion, global citizenship, social justice, equity, and community fairness.
  • Increase employment and retention of underrepresented populations.
  • Enhance the cultural awareness, skills, and competencies of employees.

Inclusive Excellence Committee

The Inclusive Excellence Committee (IEC) (formerly known as the Diversity Council) is comprised of voluntary members of faculty, staff, and students who seek to support and promote diversity initiatives at the college. It was created by Joanna Barefoot in 2011, with her dream of opening a multicultural resource center on campus.

If you would like to join the Inclusive Excellence Committee or request resources, please contact Madeline Reichler at mereichler@genesee.edu.

LGBTQ+ Resources

“All Gender” Bathrooms

Here at Genesee Community College, we recognize that having a bathroom where one feels safe and comfortable is of high importance to many of our students. A 2021 SUNY policy declared that all public single-occupancy bathrooms on SUNY campuses must be designated as gender neutral. GCC’s Batavia campus has five all-gender bathrooms. One can be found in the lobby of the Stuart Steiner Theatre, one in the Wellness Center, one on each floor of the Student Success Center, and one in the Richard C. Call Arena.

Preferred First Name Policy

Genesee Community College recognizes that you may want to use a first name that is different from your legal name. Therefore we have created a “Preferred Name Procedure” which allows students to use their preferred name in MyGCC, Flexible Registration, DegreeWorks, and in Self-Service Banner for advisee listings, class rosters, and grade submission forms. In order to change your name, you must fill out the Preferred Name Request form.

There are some limitations to using your preferred name, which should be noted and prepared for:

  • Official records, documents, and mailed correspondence will be in your legal name. This includes diplomas, college ID cards, financial records, and academic transcripts.
  • You may only change your name once an academic year.
  • GCC reserves the right to deny a request if the name is trademarked, associated with a public figure, or may legally misrepresent you.
photographer student as commencement

Open Door Internship Program

The Open Door Internship Program is a new, one-semester program created to welcome employees from underrepresented communities to explore if a future in higher education is the path for them. Once accepted into the program, individuals will receive professional development training and an experienced mentor to help guide their first semester teaching or working as a staff member within the campus community. If you like the idea of working in community college education and hope to empower students through your own experiences and expertise, we hope you consider this opportunity!

Requirements:

Successful teaching candidates will:

  • Be diverse and represent a historically underrepresented population
  • Have no prior college work experience
  • Hold a master’s degree from an accredited institution in a discipline taught at GCC

– Or –

  • Be a current graduate student and have completed 15 credits toward a master’s degree from an accredited institution, in a discipline taught at GCC (see Degree Programs for disciplines taught at GCC).

Successful staff candidates will:

  • Be diverse and represent a historically underrepresented population
  • Have no prior college work experience
  • Hold a master’s degree from an accredited institution

Application Instructions:

To be considered, applicants must apply fthrough The Open Door Program position listed on the Employment Opportunities Website. Interested individuals should submit a letter of interest, resume or CV, and the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of three references, along with copies of your transcripts. If hired, official transcripts must be submitted to the Human Resources Office.

If you have questions regarding this opportunity or the status of your application, please contact Sara Vacin, Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator, at sevacin@genesee.edu or 585-343-0055 x6478.

As this program is new and positions are limited, please know that our doors are open and this institution looks forward to welcoming you! We are honored that you considered GCC on your career and higher education path!

Resources

Cultural Competency

  1. Self-awareness is the consciousness of one’s own social identities, cultures, biases, and perspectives.
  2. Understanding and valuing others is the knowledge of and appreciation for others’ social identities, cultures, and perspectives.
  3. Knowledge of societal inequities is the understanding of how social identities and forms of oppression affect people’s experiences and access to power, resources, and opportunities.
  4. Skills to interact effectively with diverse people in different contexts is the ability to adapt to and work collaboratively with different cultural groups, in a range of situations.
  5. Skills to foster equity and inclusion is the ability to identify and address inequities in order to create environments, policies, and practices that ensure diversity and fairness. 

Developed by Diane J. Goodman, Ed. D. ©2014 Available at her website.

Resources for Cultural Competency and Understanding Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Campus Pride – Education and resources geared specifically for LGBTQ+ college students.

How to Tell Someone They’re Racist – Jay Smooth shares a useful technique to combat racist actions.

If the World Were 100 People – Consider your life compared to others in this world.

Improving Your Diversity IQ – Doug Melville, who is biracial, helps explain the importance of embracing diversity and gives 9 steps to improve your own diversity IQ.

It’s Pronounced Metrosexual – Articles, graphics, and activities about LGBTQ+ awareness and education.

Project Implicit – These quick online tests may help you to see whether you have implicit bias towards certain groups of people and how strong this bias is. Try it – you may be surprised!

Ted Talks Bridging Cultural Differences – This is one of many collections of Ted Talks related to diversity. There are hundreds of presentations related to cultural competency and diversity, equity, and inclusion. If you want something specific, I bet they have it!

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack – Peggy McIntosh, in her seminal work on privilege stated, “I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was “meant” to remain oblivious.” Most white Americans fail to realize the extent to which privilege impacts their lives. This article and the SEED project help us understand white privilege and more importantly, what to do with this privilege.

Additional Resources for Faculty & Staff

25 Mini-Films for Exploring Race, Bias and Identity With Students – 25 short New York Times documentaries that range in time from 1 to 7 minutes and tackle issues of race, bias and identity.

The Avarna Group – An immense collection of social and environmental justice themed articles, activities, and videos. Be sure to use the “search by subject” option for quicker results.

Diversity Activities Resource Guide – Close to 40 classic and new diversity activities to engage your students with.

Creating an Inclusion and Diversity BREAKTHROUGH – This powerpoint contains many action-oriented ideas on how to make your classroom more inclusive.

Cultural Competency for Higher Education Professionals – The linked chart summarizes cultural competencies across knowledge, awareness, and skill domains. Good to print out and look over, from time-to-time.

Edutopia – Culturally Responsive Teaching has a plethora of articles and new lesson plans to use. Within each link you will find references to more articles and ideas – so if you don’t find exactly what you are looking for, it would be worth scrolling through related articles.

Handbook for Facilitating Difficult Conversations in the Classroom – College classrooms are very much a place for engaging, challenging conversations! If you already handle “hot” topics or you’re planning on infusing more diversity-related activities and conversations into your teaching, here is an excellent primer on how to do so effectively and sensitively. Please review these recommendations and utilize the many links included in this document.

Inclusion Starts with I – Meaningful, short video highlighting WHY inclusion in the workplace matters.

Yale Center for Teaching and Learning – Included you will find many practical tips for promoting an inclusive classroom. Be sure to look at the multitude of downloads at the bottom of the page for additional resources.

Resources for International Students

Are you an international student new to GCC? Check out this page to get more information regarding employment opportunities, maintaining your visa, traveling outside the U.S. and more.