Initiatives
As part of our “… any person … ” ethos, Cornell University has a founding commitment to being an equitable, inclusive and welcoming community and continues to support actions to uphold these principles through programs and initiatives, open to all, that address issues of diversity, equity and inclusion.
The Presidential Task Force on Campus Climate and the Provost’s Task Force to Enhance Faculty Diversity, both of which did their work during 2017-2018, resulted in a set of sixty recommendations. Over the past several years, many of the recommendations were implemented. Those that have not been, continue to be addressed.
After the incidents of racial injustice that occurred across the country in 2020, Cornell responded with a set of actions towards a long-term goal of changing societal structures and systems that inherently privilege some more than others. Some of these actions built on previous initiatives, others were initiated to directly address issues highlighted during this difficult period in our country.
Listed below are a broad list of programs and initiatives, led at both the institutional-level and college-level, that support the university’s current priorities to continue the work of advancing inclusion and addressing structural inequity at Cornell. Please click on the (+) to learn more about programs and initiatives at Cornell.
Belonging at Cornell framework
Belonging at Cornell is designed to make Cornell a more diverse and inclusive environment, improving the overall experience of faculty, staff and students. Belonging at Cornell is a data-based and metrics driven approach with an accountability structure that tracks five metrics: Sense of belonging, Sense of fairness, Willingness to recommend Cornell, along with two compositional metrics, Diverse candidate pools, and Turnover rates for faculty and staff. Each dean annually reports on and is accountable for progress on all five metrics, tracked by dashboards.
Faculty Initiatives
- Faculty Award for Excellence in Research, Teaching, and Service through Diversity is awarded annually to two faculty.
- Dual Career Program: Aids dual career spouses or partners in the recruiting process.
- Annual faculty salary survey.
- An analysis of endowed professorships to ensure equity is completed periodically.
- Academic Leadership Series: A yearlong program on academic leadership for aspiring academic leaders.
- Faculty Mentoring programs best practices: Guidance to faculty and department chairs with suggested recommendations and processes for effective mentoring.
- National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD): Provides online tools to support the success of tenured and tenure-track faculty, postdocs and advanced graduate students.
- Office of Faculty Development and Diversity (OFDD): Oversees best practices in hiring and promotion.
- Center for Dialogue & Pluralism (CDP): Advances intentional engagement across, and about, differences as an essential democratic practice.
- Center for Teaching Innovation (CTI): Supports the engagement of faculty who are looking to create more inclusive classrooms with course offering Teaching and Learning in a Diverse Classroom.
- Office of Inclusion and Student Engagement (OISE, Graduate School): Provides resources for faculty who are supporting a diverse graduate student body.
Student Initiatives
- Office of Academic Diversity Initiatives (OADI): Provides academic and professional-development support and resources for students who are first-generation college goers and/or from lower-income backgrounds.
- McNair Scholars Program: Prepares undergraduate scholars for doctoral studies through involvement in research and other scholarly activities
- Pre-professional Programs (P3): Programming and support initiative housed in the Office of Academic Diversity Initiatives (OADI) for the purpose of recruiting, preparing and graduating underrepresented and/or economically disadvantaged students to the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and professional fields.
- Cornell Engineering Office of Inclusive Excellence
- Pre-Collegiate Summer Scholars Program (PSSP): Offers wide-ranging opportunities to prepare students for Cornell by challenging and supporting them as they develop new ways of thinking and approaching academic work.
- Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP): Summer research experiences for undergraduates in Engineering.
- Biology Scholars Program (BSP): Designed to support academic excellence for first gen students majoring in Biological Sciences.
- Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF): Program to increase diversity in the faculty ranks of institutions of higher learning.
- Centers for Student Equity, Empowerment and Belonging: Asian & Asian American Center, First Generation & Low Income Support, LGBT Resource Center, Black Student Empowerment, Latinx Student Empowerment, Undocumented & DACA Support, Gender Equity Resource Center, Office of Spirituality and Meaning-Making
- SUNY Diversity fellowships: For recruitment of new research degree students in graduate fields within contract colleges.
- Graduate School Fellowships in Support of Diversity
- Colman Inclusive Leadership Program
- Cornell Engineering Graduate Fellows and Leadership Programs
- Cornell Bowers CIS Deans Excellence Fellowship
- Summer Success Symposium: Focus on diverse doctoral students, provides participants with access to knowledge and insights that will help them navigate their successful transition into and progression through their graduate studies.
- Dean’s Scholars Program: Develops a community of diverse scholars through which connections are established and maintained across all graduate fields.
- NextGen Professors: Career-development program focused on preparing Cornell graduate students and postdocs for faculty careers across institutional types.
- Across the university, departments and colleges are expected to examine their curriculum to ensure that all students have rich access to courses that expose them to a diversity of people and cultures.
- Cornell incorporates inclusive and holistic practices of recruiting and admissions at the undergraduate and graduate level.
Staff Initiatives
- Six-course training for all staff: Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Cornell
- Inclusive Excellence Network, includes:
- Inclusive Excellence Academy: A series of programs designed to advance an inclusive educational environment and workplace.
- Inclusive Excellence Summit: An annual event for staff and faculty to learn and develop practical skills for cultivating a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace and fostering a culture of belonging.
- Inclusive Excellence Podcast: Sponsored by the Department of Inclusion and Belonging, a monthly podcast series where various topics related to diversity, equity and inclusion at work are discussed.
- Colleague Network Groups: Organized identity-based groups that help their constituents build community, share strategies for navigating the university and serve as support networks. They also provide a platform for senior leadership to understand challenges around diversity, equity and inclusion and to identify opportunities for programs and initiatives.
- President’s Awards for Employee Excellence, The Culture of Belonging Award: Recognizes an employee who goes beyond expectations to create and support an open, inclusive, welcoming and equitable workplace environment for all members of the Cornell community.
University and College-Wide Initiatives
- The Division of Public Safety, created in spring 2022, provides a comprehensive approach that prioritizes transparency and empathy in delivery of public safety services, recruitment of community focused employees, and training focused on contemporary issues such a de-escalation, procedural justice, and trauma informed interactions with our community. .
- The Community Response Team is a person-centered, trauma-informed mobile crisis care program serving persons in crisis on Cornell’s Ithaca campus.
If you are the owner of a belonging and inclusion program or initiative on campus that has changed or should be listed here, please send a note to pade@cornell.edu.