CANVAS Historical Background
- Formerly known as CCA’s Artist’s Network Valuing Aspiring Scholars, CANVAS launched in Fall 2018 with a group of 23 new students from all over the country.
- In the summers of 2018 and 2019 the CANVAS Program was offered to first-year freshmen recipients of one of the college’s Diversity Scholarships as a three-day immersive program sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Students.
- In addition to the financial support provided via the scholarship, the CANVAS program served as a means of supporting the students' academic success. It provided participants an advanced opportunity to engage with the people, departments and resources to help them navigate their collegiate experience effectively.
- In fall 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic brought about necessary changes to all academic programs and services. As a result, the CANVAS program transitioned into a program designed to help students find support and community through remote/hybrid delivery methods. This included regular online meetings sponsored by CCA's counseling staff.
- The introduction of a year-long Cultural Ethnic Studies seminar course helped reimagine the CANVAS program as an academic program with co-curricular programming.
- In early 2021 CCA began exploring shifting the mission and name of the Diversity scholarship to what would eventually be known as the Visionary Practice scholarship.
- In 2022 CCA hired the inaugural Vice President for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
- That same year, the creation of the Office of Student Belonging and Inclusion (OSBI) allowed for an expanded network of support to ensure that all students develop and sustain a strong sense of belonging and feel included in the CCA community. OSBI sponsors a variety of initiatives that advocate for and uplift the voices of BIPOC students, women, LGBTQ+ students, First Generation students, and other underrepresented populations.
