The University of South Florida is committed to being the university of first choice for those seeking a nationally recognized learning community.

We will be the first choice for those seeking a creative and innovative environment, characterized by openness and built on mutual respect and recognition of the strength that results from an inclusive student body, faculty and staff.

We will be the first choice of students seeking an intellectually challenging environment that demands excellence on critical thinking and in academic performance.

We will be the first choice of scholarly teachers who personally place great value on developing every student's full intellectual and creative potential.

We will be the first choice of faculty and students uncompromisingly devoted to extending the frontiers of knowledge for the enhancement of the human condition and committed to the dissemination and application of this knowledge to solve urban, national and global problems.

We will be the first choice of public and private enterprises seeking to establish significant partnerships that will create benefits for the citizens of Florida and the nation.

The University of South Florida values:

1. Excellence in teaching, research, service and support activities.
2. Free exchange of ideas in the spirit of academic freedom and professional responsibility.
3. Contributions to the greater understanding and resolution of societal problems.
4. Human diversity, pluralism and community.
5. Shared governance, teamwork and collaboration in decision making.
6. Personal commitment and contribution to the university's greater good.
7. Individual growth and development.

Contribute to fulfillment of the following commitments of the University (USF 1999-2000 Undergraduate Catalog, p. 9):

1. Promote an intellectually excellent, culturally diverse academic community of faculty, staff, and students.
2. Engage students and faculty in a common inquiry into the values of society and give them a rational understanding of the need to accept and appreciate differences among people and cultures.
3. Resolve social … challenges facing the largely metropolitan populations of our state and country.
4. Provide intellectual, cultural, and social services through innovative research and other creative activities.
5. Function as a catalyst for improvements within its immediate cultural, economic, and social context.
   More specifically, the Office will enhance commitment to and facilitate compliance with the following equal opportunity regulations that:
   • Prohibit discrimination in education, and mandate the development of strategies to increase the participation of students of a particular race, national origin, sex, handicap, or marital status, in programs in which the have been traditionally underrepresented (e.g., Title VI of CRA of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Florida Educational Equity Act of 1984 [228.2001 F.S.]).
   • Prohibit discrimination against any employee or applicant because of race, color, marital status, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age, or veteran status (e.g., Title VII of CRA of 1964, Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Florida Human Rights Act [Ch. 760, F.S.]. Florida Employment Policy [Ch. 110, F.S], Florida Statutes on Age Discrimination [112.043-14, F.S.], Veteran Preference [295.07-123, F.S.], Gender Equity in Intercollegiate Athletics [240.533, F.S.]; USF Equal Opportunity Policy 0-007 of 1999, USF ADA Policy 0-008A, and USF Sexual Harassment Policy of April 2000).
   • Require that the University take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, color, marital status, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age, or veteran status (e.g., US Executive Order 11246 of 1965; Vietnam Era Readjustment and Assistance Act of 1974; Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973; Florida EEO/Affirmative Action Statute [110.112, F.S.]; Florida Equity Accountability Act of 1992; Florida Executive Order 99-281; USF Equal Opportunity Policy 0-007 of 1999, and USF ADA Policy 0-008A).
   • Require that the University make reasonable accommodations for individual with disabilities in its education, employment and public event programs (e.g., Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; USF ADA Policy 0-008A ).

1. Disseminate, internally and externally, information on equal opportunity, affirmative action, and equal access.
2. Administer EOA Women/Minorities Employment Recruitment Outreach Program.
3. Sponsor, participate in, organize and conduct discussions, seminars and workshops on equal opportunity and equal access.
4. Collaborate in equal opportunity related research.
5. Provide equal opportunity counseling and consultation services.
6. Review allegations and resolve complaints of unlawful discrimination.
7. Facilitate, monitor compliance of education programs and employment activities with EEO policy.
8. Provide community services in the field of equal opportunity.
9. Administer/facilitate compliance of scholarship/fellowship programs with EEO regulations.
10. Promote equal opportunity among students and employees.
11. Coordinate and assist in the development of Equal Opportunity and Equal Access Plans required by local, state and federal regulatory/enforcement agencies.

The Office will use the vision and the values of the University, as guiding lights and launching pads, in the development of the objectives designed to facilitate achievement of its goals and fulfillment of its mission.