The Office of Diversity, Access and Inclusion provides leadership in the shared development of policies, programs, and procedures that integrate diversity, access and inclusion into the operations of the institution and advance inclusive excellence. It also supports NU’s efforts to ensure the mission delivery of teaching, research, outreach and engagement is accessible and includes a diverse array of beneficiaries. 
The Office is a system-wide convener for collaborative efforts that improve the access, inclusion and retention of a diverse student, faculty and staff body for NU.  It also assesses high-impact diversity and inclusion strategies and proven best practices for system-wide replication.
It utilizes Inclusive Excellence, a research-based approach for diversity and inclusion, for D&I policy development in addition to the framework’s accompanying definitions for diversity, inclusion, equity and equity-mindedness.