Abstract: Diversity and inclusion are two goals that every institution is trying to achieve in today’s world. I am a firm believer in the importance of diversity in an educational institution. Diversity fosters an atmosphere of creativity and innovation, and directly contributes to the reputation of an institution and the success of its students. Exposure to a multicultural environment is one of the key factors to a student's success in their increasingly global, future workplace. Cultivating awareness and empathic understanding of different cultural, racial and socio-economic backgrounds is the first step towards striving for equity. There is no fixed set of rules that define a path to equity. Definition of fairness is altered each day by a little bit when a new case emerges. However, using strategies in the classroom to maintain equity and discussing those implemented strategies, helps students learn about inclusive excellence and carry these principles into the workplace.

Short Bio: Chandrika Satyavolu is a Teaching Associate Professor in the department of Computer Science and Engineering at University of Notre Dame. Before that, she worked for California State University at Monterey Bay and Oklahoma City University. Her current course schedule is teaching Data Structures to a class of 150 students. She has experience teaching a variety of graduate and undergraduate level classes such as Distributed Operating Systems, Intelligent Databases, Wireless Networks, Database Systems, Computer Architecture, Discrete Mathematics, Computer Networks and Intro to programming. Chandrika’s doctoral research is centered on wireless and mobile networks. She holds a Ph.D. from University of Oklahoma at Norman and Master’s from San Jose State University. She has worked for Danger Inc. (acquired by Microsoft), Wind River Systems (makers of the VxWorks, OS used in the NASA Mars Rover and tiny devices), and Institutional Shareholder Services in Norman, Oklahoma. She completed a one year UC Berkley’s extension - STEM Faculty Learning Program, and that supports faculty in exploring active learning approaches that lead to greater student engagement. She has also participated in Google’s training workshop for Computer Science Summer Institute (CSSI -Ex: Google’s extension program at CSUMB).