Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice.

“We, as students of Boston University School of Public Health, form a community with a robust, complex mix of backgrounds and perspectives.

We enter this community with a shared mission: to improve the health of local, national, and international populations, particularly the disadvantaged, underserved, and vulnerable. In this endeavor, we recognize that social justice is integral to our shared vision of a healthier world.

As a student and a member of the BUSPH community, I vow to live by this oath.

I will challenge my worldview through interactions inside and outside the classroom.

I will embrace each person recognizing their inherent dignity and acknowledge the diversity of their identities and lived experiences.

I will create an inclusive community for all by challenging biases and acknowledging privilege.

I will act as an agent of social change in the School, community, field of public health, and beyond.

This is the public health legacy I am creating.

This is the BU School of Public Health I believe in.

This is our promise to ourselves and our world.”

SPH Reads 2023

SPH Reads is a school-wide reading program hosted by the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice. It aims to encourage critical thought and discussion among all members of the BUSPH community and is centered on a carefully chosen thought-provoking book. The 2023-2024 selection is Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, a collection of essays by disabled people, edited by activist and author Alice Wong.

All incoming (first year) MPH students and core-course faculty are encouraged to read the selected book to prepare for discussions during orientation.  We encourage returning students, non-core curriculum faculty, and staff to join the incoming class in reading this collection of essarys. Throughout the year, beginning with Orientation, there will be opportunities to gather and talk about the issues presented in the book through lectures, seminars, and small discussion groups involving all members of the SPH community.

This fall, we will be joined virtually by editor Alice Wong on September 14^th for our SPH Reads Public Health Conversation. Additionally, over the school year, we will have many opportunities for the community to engage in discussions surrounding the topics of the book.

2023
Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century
Edited by Alice Wong

2020
There Goes the Neighborhood: How Communities Overcome Prejudice and Meet the Challenge of American Immigration
Ali Noorani (SPH ’99)

Join SPH faculty, staff, and students for an informal and unstructured (i.e. no assigned facilitator or specific agenda) conversation about racism, privilege, and inequities—across our own identities and backgrounds, and across our roles at the school. Please reference the calendar for specific dates. Contact Robyn Volcy-Lee with questions.

Graduate Student Life supports and advises several Student Organizations that hold diversity and inclusion among their top priorities. We encourage you to learn more about and to get involved with the Student Senate, the Queer Alliance, the International Student Organization and/or Students of Color for Public Health.