DEI welcomeThe 2020 killings by police of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor prompted an outpouring of anger, sorrow, and grief that was felt at Rutgers, in our local communities, and around the world.

During this time of racial reckoning, the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) began working on multiple fronts to ensure we reach our highest potential as a diverse, inclusive, and equitable community of students, staff, and faculty—a place where all feel safe, welcome, and valued.

This work will enter a new phase in the 2023-2024 academic year with the launch of a comprehensive schoolwide strategic planning process.

This process will enlist the SAS community in identifying a unified vision, along with clear goals and plans for implementation and metrics for determining success. Certainly, matters of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) must be, and will be, a critical part of this strategic plan.

But as of this writing, fall 2023, it’s important to share what we have already accomplished, which is considerable.

In 2021, the leadership of the School of Arts and Sciences organized an ad-hoc committee of faculty, staff, and students to develop a DEI strategic plan that would complement similar efforts taking place throughout the university and move beyond the current moment to create an actionable strategy for lasting change.

That plan is complete and can be accessed here. We invite the entire SAS community to peruse the contents, which includes previously unreported statistics on faculty, staff, and student diversity, insightful historic background on SAS, existing programs of promise, and numerous concrete recommendations for change across the school.