A Catalyst for Connection

“How are we going to support one another?”

For Vice Chancellor of Inclusive Excellence Renetta Garrison Tull, there is no single answer. It can be helping create a global network of engineers, connecting students with mentors or simply acknowledging others’ presence by saying hello. Over the past year, Tull has brought the question from campus classrooms to international conference stages, acting as a “catalyst for success” and building connections around her belief that people do their best work when they know they are contributing to something bigger than themselves. 

Global Engagement Leads to Global Teamwork

In 2025, Tull served her one-year term as president of the Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions, or LACCEI, a non-profit organization with the mission of promoting high standards in engineering and technology education among universities and schools. She was elected as she had been deeply involved with the program since 2012, and as an individual is deeply committed to advancing diversity in STEM and had already extensive experience in building global networks in engineering, with a background in electrical engineering. 

For Tull, global leadership is about listening and understanding, as she explained, “it’s a way to understand how people think and work together in teams, and it’s given me a chance to understand different ways of thinking and see all our similarities and differences around the world.”

On July 18, 2025, Tull presented in Mexico City at the 23rd LACCEI International Multi-Conference for Engineering, Education and Technology. She spoke about her book chapter titled “Models for International Collaborations to Nurture Students into Global Engineers” from Academic Leadership in Engineering Education, where she shared global student mobility models from engineering schools around the world to highlight pathways for preparing students to become globally engaged engineers. In 2026, she worked with groups in Santiago, Chile to share the power of partnerships and global alliances.

Tull is also on the board of the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies, where she champions transformative initiatives such as forecasting, global student leadership, and actions that advance engineering education inclusive excellence. She has given lectures and worked with groups in every continent except Antarctica. 

Cultivating Community as a Daily Practice

Tull’s question of support is one that, according to her, sits at the core of higher education, and it directly relates to community, a major theme defining her work this last year.

The Principles of Community, UC Davis’ foundational principles and its commitment to equity and respect, serve as a guiding framework for everything she does. Wanting to dive deeper, she created the Community Equation, which is meant to illustrate how intentional support across multiple segments strengthens the collective, leading to opportunity and belonging for all. “The Community Equation and Principles of Community help give us a broader perspective to show how we are, in our various programs, supporting everyone in one way or another,” Tull said. According to Tull, our community is strengthened when individuals, institutions and systems work together intentionally to create conditions where everyone can thrive. 

View the Community Equation       

Tull also celebrated seven years as vice chancellor of Inclusive Excellence at UC Davis. This anniversary also came soon after a conference in Finland for the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI), where she learned about the power of oaths in shaping professional culture. Her answer to the question she posed about how we plan to support one another was this: “Acknowledging each other’s humanity - recognizing and honoring that this is who we are.” In celebration of her seven years, she shared a paragraph she wrote that was inspired by the Principles of Community, as well as several other phrases from various campus units. According to Tull, these words “represent many of my reasons for wanting to be part of UC Davis' contributions to our society.”

Chancellor May always says, “This is who we are." 

Who are we?

We believe in better
We affirm the dignity inherent in all of us
We learn from the past, improve the present, and solve for tomorrow
We heal, and we feed the world
We always outgrow the expected! 

Who are we?
We are UC Davis!

Advancing an Ecosystem of Mentorship

The Principles of Community don’t just influence how Tull approaches international work, but also her national and internal work, as well. In alignment with the Principles, specifically, its mention of UC Davis as an “institution of learning, teaching, research and public service … committed to serving the needs of a global society comprising all people and a multiplicity of identities,” Tull has continued to lead the PROMISE Engineering Institute (PEI). Tull helped start this program during her time as the Associate Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and brought the program to UC Davis, cementing the relationship between the two schools, as she serves as the Principal Investigator. PEI was developed to link engineering PhD students at both UC Davis and UMBC with mentors at the highest level of higher education leadership. Tull attributes the success of the program to Inclusive Excellence’s 4E Framework - Engage, Equip, Empower and Elevate. 

For Tull, mentorship is more than a program, but is about helping people be their best selves. “I’m going to be a person that helps people move forward into their dreams and goals they want to see in the future,” she said. She is particularly pleased that the “Fulfilling the PROMISE” collaborative paper on intergenerational mentoring, co-written by colleagues from UC Davis and her former institution (UMBC), highlights a framework for igniters, flamekeepers, torchbearers, and illuminators, as an ecosystem for mentoring (Lewis et al, 2026). 

Read the Paper on PROMISE

The  philosophy of systematic mentoring is seen in the tools Tull creates to help students succeed. Tull was invited to speak at the 37th Annual Undergraduate Research Scholarship and Creative Activities Conference in April 2026, where she created and shared her CHEER model to help students with their oral presentations. The name comes from Tull’s time as a middle school community football team cheerleader and captain of the pep squad in high school. Those experiences helped inspire this framework that, much like a cheer squad helps boost a school’s confidence, gives students confidence when approaching difficult tasks like presenting.

Tull’s mentorship continued beyond her initial presentations, as she followed up with students after the conference and enjoyed seeing how the CHEER model worked for them. It is evidence of her dedication to helping students move toward the future they envision for themselves.

Starting a Conversation

The Dynamic Discussions Deck is a deck of cards made by Inclusive Excellence as a tool to support meaningful conversations. It contains conversation prompts across five different themes: Culture and Identity; Personal Reflection and Learning; Kindness and Connection; Challenging Conversations and Different Perspectives; Dreams, Hopes, and the Future. Tull spoke about what the cards mean to her and why she believes they are so powerful. “It gives people the chance to have conversations with one another about some topics that maybe they have not had the opportunity to connect on.” She feels the cards are a great way to bring back manners, greetings and acknowledgements of others’ presence and humanity. 

To Tull, the conversations sparked by the Dynamic Discussions Deck are part of remembering how to interact with one another. She sees this firsthand when working with students at conferences and meetings, where she helps them with professional development, which starts with simple acts like introducing yourself to the people next to you. “Let’s not sit silently next to each other in seats,” she said. “Let’s remember again how to say hello to one another when we pass by.” For Tull, greeting someone, acknowledging their presence and making an effort to connect are small but powerful gestures, and they are, most importantly, what make a community. 

A Positive View of the Future

Moving forward, Tull’s vision for UC Davis is planted in the idealism that has shaped her work this past year. She came to the university because she loved its environment and everything it stands for, and recognizes that all who come here are at UC Davis for a reason. As vice chancellor of Inclusive Excellence, Tull wants to know how we can facilitate the best possible experience for everyone at UC Davis and help students, faculty and staff find opportunities to learn, contribute and grow. 

“I would love for our students to enjoy what they are learning, how they are going to be contributing to the world in the future and seeing how to connect to people who are different from them in a respectful way,” Tull said. “I would love for our faculty to feel like this is a place where they can be curious and they can discover new things, write new books and come up with new types of knowledge that they can share with the world.”

That vision for UC Davis may sound idealistic, however, for Vice Chancellor Tull that is really the point. “If there are ways that we can help facilitate those kinds of things, it might sound like a utopia, but I tend to deal in a lot of idealisms."