Dear OUWB Community,
Over the past several weeks, I have valued the opportunity to engage with our students, faculty, staff, and community members. Thank you to everyone who shared their time and perspectives with me.
These conversations have underscored the passion and strength of our community, while highlighting the need to better align our core principles with our processes for awards and scholarships. Please be assured that efforts are already underway to enhance these procedures to ensure transparency and opportunity.
Discussions have also served as a vital reflection on the type of physician we are committed to training, along with the community we must foster to support them.
OUWB remains steadfast in our commitment to a safe, respectful learning and working environment that aligns with the following guidelines.
We should always:
- Listen with respect and an open mind, strive to understand others’ views, and articulate your own point of view.
- Embrace differences with the intent to build community, not to criticize and separate ourselves from others.
- Be mindful not to monopolize discussion and/or interrupt others.
- Advocate for others who have not been heard.
- Do not demean, devalue, or attempt to humiliate another person based on their experiences, value system, or construction of meaning.
- Challenge myths and stereotypes about your own groups and other groups.
- Raise views in such a way to encourage open dialogue.
- Call out assumptions and biases.
- Be authentic when engaging with all members of the OUWB community.
- Create a safe atmosphere for open discussion among everyone.
We are dedicated to maintaining a culture where every individual feels supported and valued, regardless of their background; diverse perspectives are actively embraced; and, we hold one another to the highest standards of professionalism and integrity.
Our history is defined by educating compassionate physicians grounded in ethics and service. We will continue to uphold this mission and lead in medical education through respectful dialogue and a culture of kindness.
In support,
Christopher F. Carpenter, M.D., MHSA
Stephan Sharf Dean, OUWB
