Cultivating a Diverse and Inclusive Community

Arts & Sciences is committed to cultivating and advancing a diverse and inclusive community capable of recognizing, analyzing, and responding to exclusion and injustice with equitable solutions, and to building community in ways that celebrate the racial, cultural, ethnic, religious, ability, sexual orientation, and gender diversity of our campus.

Founded in 2021, the Arts & Sciences Diversity and Inclusion office has been collaborating with administrators, faculty and students to increase inclusion in faculty and staff recruitment, provide culturally responsive student support and committee work, and to develop other initiatives, including a CAS-led campus wide inclusive pedagogy institute.

The 2030 Strategic Plan also set forth new initiatives to build a diverse and inclusive community, including the launch of the Society of Fellows postdoctoral program. Here are some other examples of strengthening diversity and inclusion in our community:

Louis Chude-SokeiLouis Chude-Sokei Aims to Challenge Conventional Narratives about Race and Technology

“Overall, I want to tell a story about how technology has developed and continues to develop in relation to race, culture, human difference, and the very question about what it is to be human—that’s the question that links the humanities with contemporary technology.” —Louis Chude Sokei, director of BU’s African American Studies Program, George and Joyce Wein Chair in African American Studies, and professor of English

Creating a Diverse and Inclusive CAS

“Last year, there was a genuine sea change in terms of folks realizing that when people are talking about racism, they’re not just talking about individual incidents. They’re talking about systemic issues that impact specific populations in really specific ways.” —Vincent L. Stephens, CAS’ first associate dean dedicated to diversity and inclusion.

Associate Dean Malika Jeffries-EL’s First-Gen Story

“As a first-gen student, often you don’t know what you don’t know. I didn’t know the importance of professional organizations or the variety of career options that existed. I met people who worked in industry, in government. These women just had it going on, and I was just like, wait a minute, I need to affiliate with this group.”  —Malika Jeffries-EL, associate professor of chemistry and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences associate dean.

African American Studies MajorAfrican American and Black Diaspora Studies is BU’s Newest Major

“People are more open to speaking about the history of America now—the history of oppressed minorities, who was part of it, who did what to whom.” –A’yanna Rouse (CAS’25), computer science major and African American and Black Diaspora studies minor.

magazine editorsBU Students Launch New Magazine Celebrating the Various Nuances of the Asian American Experience

“I hope ‘Untangle’ helps start conversations about race, identity, and the Asian American experience… These are all really different experiences, but they are all of equal value, and that’s what we really want to emphasize.” —Emily Wu (CAS’22, Wheelock’22)

Jamie Robertson, CAS Writing Program LecturerLearning about Law through Literature

“In teaching this class, it’s always my goal to make sure the students don’t really get a sense of what I think—what my opinions on a law or a case are—because I really want them to feel free to figure out for themselves what they think.” —Jamie Robertson, Writing Program lecturer 

BU Diversity & Inclusion’s Emerging Scholars Program provides funds to departments throughout BU to support individuals or groups of early-career scholars from historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. For the 2021-22 academic year, Emerging Scholars funding went to the following Arts & Sciences departments: Anthropology (two awards); Biology; Earth & Environment; and History, in partnership with the African American Studies Program.