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

As Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusions, Joy Bostic focuses on the following:

  • Initiatives, policies and programs focused on increasing diversity across the College
  • Improvements to policies, practices, and teaching, targeting increasing inclusivity
  • Curricular initiatives designed to increase diversity of perspectives
  • Best practices for hiring that enhance diversity
  • Strategic initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion that interface with the Provost’s Office (e.g., North Star program with HBCUs)

Learn more about Joy Bostic and her role in the College.

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. As part of the program, three underrepresented minority postdoctoral scholars will study on our campus in the 2021-22 academic year. Meet this year’s fellows.

Loron Benton, Department of Religious Studies

Luis Achondo, Department of Music

Vivian Laughlin, Department of Religious Studies

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

A collaboration between CWRU and Hampton University, provides formal mentoring to undergraduates  in communication  sciences from underrepresented  backgrounds. Three graduates of the program received full scholarships to graduate programs for advanced studies. Faculty Lead: Dr. Lauren Calandruccio, associate professor, Department of Psychological Sciences. Learn more about IMPACT.

Hiring Practices

Faculty Diversity Statements

The one-page diversity statement included in all faculty applications, should explain how one’s research, teaching, and/or service have contributed to diversity, equity and inclusion within a scholarly field(s) and/or how individual and/or collaborative efforts have promoted structural justice inside and outside institutions of higher learning. This statement should also reflect on the ways in which the candidate’s continued efforts will foster a culture of diversity, pluralism, and individual difference at Case Western Reserve University.

North Star Faculty

This initiative put in place by the Office of the Provost who selected the College of Arts and Sciences to run the pilot program for the process, focuses on hiring diverse faculty candidates.

Dr. Angela Dixon, department of Biology

Dr. Dixon will bring new, innovative and state-of-the-art research that will expand and extend the neurobiology and behavior group in the Department of Biology. She will contribute to new courses offered in the recently-established undergraduate neuroscience major and develop research collaborations with faculty in our Department of Biomedical Engineering. She has substantial experience in community outreach and teaching and, because of her interest in afrofuturism, is also in conversation with Africana studies and the humanities. Dixon will start with the College in January of 2022.

Books and articles 

A Diverse Campus

For ten straight years, Case Western Reserve University has earned the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, among the oldest and largest diversity-focused publications in higher education. Case Western Reserve has received the national diversity award annually since HEED was established in 2012.