Diversity Statement
The College of Arts and Sciences at Case Western Reserve University is committed to advancing an inclusive community in which everyone is welcome, respected, valued and heard. Along with colleagues across the university, our faculty, staff and students are engaged in continued and meaningful dialogue about issues of systemic racism, and we are determined to implement measures to end discriminatory practices on our campus and enhance our contributions to the communities around us.
Members of our faculty lend their expertise, research, and insights to ongoing national and international conversations about racial justice and equity. As a liberal arts college, we educate leaders and innovators whose knowledge, creativity and appreciation for multiple perspectives enable them to carry on the work of building a more hopeful future for all.
As our society grapples with the history, legacy and persistence of entrenched racism and its impact on communities of color, we reaffirm our mission to expand opportunities for underrepresented groups; provide a multifaceted education for our students; foster a culture of diversity, pluralism and recognition of individual difference; and realize our ideals within the university and in the larger world.
Joy R. Bostic, associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion
Advancing justice through education
The following programs and minors have many course offerings that focus on diversity, equity and inclusions. Each semester, visit the links below to learn more about the class offerings.
Programs in the College
Humanities in Leadership Learning Series (HILLS)
$2 million award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to design, build, and implement a publicly shared curriculum for leadership development by humanities scholars that leads to greater diversity, equity, inclusion, and transformational justice. Learn more about this program.
Nord Family Emerging Scholars Program (ESP)
Since 2011, ESP has provided academic support, mentoring and advising to CWRU students from Greater Cleveland, boosting their graduation rates and preparing them for successful careers. Eduardo Williams-Medina (‘22), a Puerto Rican native who graduated from the Cleveland School of Science and Medicine, is an Emerging Scholars Program participant and a recipient of the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. Learn more about ESP.
IMPACT Program
IMPACT, offered collaboratively with Hampton University—a Historically Black College and University—has been providing structured mentorship experiences for the past three years for students from both institutions, encouraging those who identify as people from backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in biomedical, clinical, behavioral and social sciences research in the United States to participate. Learn more about IMPACT.
Books and articles
- Black Privilege: Modern Middle-Class Blacks with Credentials and Cash to Spend by Cassi Pittman Claytor, Climo Junior Professor in the Department of Sociology
- It’s a Setup: Fathering from the Social and Economic Margins by Timothy Black, associate professor, Department of Sociology, with Sky Keys
- Honoring Trans and Gender-Expansive Students in Music Education by Matthew Garrett, associate professor, Department of Music, with Joshua Palkki
- Cabinets, Ministers, and Gender by Karen Beckwith, Flora Stone Mather Professor of Political Science, with Claire Annesley and Susan Franceschet