Diversity & Inclusion.
We, the Boston University School of Public Health community, believe that fostering diversity and inclusion is essential to fulfilling our mission as an academic public health institution; a mission firmly rooted in social justice. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion strengthens our voice as a community while elevating our ability to eliminate health disparities locally, nationally, and globally. We maintain and celebrate this commitment through excellence and innovation in research, education, and service. You may view your Diversity & Inclusion Road Map to learn more about what we are doing here to foster this initiative.
Diversity and inclusion are fundamental to a rewarding educational experience; our community benefits from the School’s robust, complex mix of backgrounds and perspectives. We support and encourage a climate of inclusivity, sensitivity, and open dialogue against the backdrop of critical inquiry. Further, we celebrate and welcome our varied experiences, our multiple and intersectional identities, and diverse perspectives that reflect and promote our multicultural environment. The School’s commitment to diversity is demonstrated through our recruitment of a faculty, staff, and students, as well as student organizations, programming, research priorities, curricula, and community practice partnerships.
Our commitment to inclusion is demonstrated through our creation of a fair, pluralistic, transparent school community that is welcoming to all who celebrate and participate in our shared ideals of public health through excellence and innovation in our research, education, and scholarship. It is our aspiration that our students graduate equipped with the openness and cross-cultural understanding essential to effectively practice public health in the twenty-first century.
Our research and service agendas are deeply enriched by discourse that engages our partner communities, both locally and globally. We believe that effective public health agendas incorporate the experiences and perspectives from the communities we serve alongside. It is our aspiration that our research agenda promote further inquiry and activism and that our community based partnerships empower individuals, families, and communities.
We recognize that achieving diversity and inclusion represents an ongoing school-wide conversation that cannot live in a statement alone. Through this statement we also recognize a commitment to self-reflection with respect to our programs, research initiatives, curricula, student engagement activities, and all other programming to ensure a process of continual improvement.
Professor Yvette Cozier serves as Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion.
Below are a variety of resources and initiatives to foster diversity and inclusion at SPH:
SPH Diversity & Inclusion Oath
“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
SPH Reads 2022
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 fall 2022 selection is The Fortune Men, by Nadifa Mohamed.
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 based on the true story of Mahmood Mattan, a petty criminal in Cardiff, Wales, wrongfully convicted of murder in 1952. 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.
Stay tuned for a detailed schedule of opportunities when we will gather to discuss this award-winning book.
Diversity and Inclusion Seminar Series
We aspire to create a culture of inclusion where all members of our community feel valued and respected. To that end we aim to create safe spaces for conversations that highlight diversity and inclusion issues in our research, teaching, and practice. The Diversity and Inclusion Seminar Series is part of this effort.
#BUSPHdiversity
Social Justice Talking Circle
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.
SJTC Flyer Fall 2022
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