Alfred University, being founded in 1836, started as one of the first co educational organizations and institutions in the country to equally educate men and women with the same curriculum. That idea of inclusive from the start has been something which we've carried forward since that time.
We started a program, a few years back, called common ground. We were aware that the students were coming from this rich variety of backgrounds. But we learned that they weren't always talking with each other as much as they could have. So common grounds designed to get students in a small group in their first semester, talking to each other, learning each other's stories, but also talking about how difficult it can be to talk to one another.
So our Force Five, just just like our theory of creativity, solving problems are Force Five uses the power creativity, to address issues that are going on in the world that are dividing people. We go into towns. We ask the town, what kind of issues they're struggling with. And we develop community based art to bring people together. So the IDEA generator is a brand new position for the Arts at Alfred, both spanning performing arts as well as visual arts. And the IDEA generator stands for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access, it's going to work with students on issues of identity and how identity kind of is infusing itself in your art and how art is really a reflection of who we are, and making sure that no voice is is suppressed and every voice is championed.
Alfred University's Women's Leadership Center allows individuals to come in and talk about aspects of leadership. The Women's Leadership Academy and the Women's Leadership Center as it has is open to all members of the campus, you know, has been amazing over a long period of time in providing leadership opportunities, training, and ultimately, it's become an incubator for the leaders on our campus. Those who identify as male, female and those who have identified as non binary as well.
