Diversity and Inclusion

A culture of diversity and inclusion promotes respect, engenders creativity, and encourages intellectual risk-taking. Establishing such a culture is intrinsic to the CUNY Graduate Center’s mission.

We are proud to be part of the City University of New York, the world’s largest public, urban university and one of the most diverse and inclusive. The CUNY Graduate Center is committed to promoting diversity and works to ensure our students and faculty reflect the varied demographics of New York City.

Our Commitment to Diversity

The Graduate Center ranks among the top 10 institutions awarding doctorates to members of underrepresented minority groups, according to federal data. To further enhance our diversity, we are creating new pipelines to the Ph.D. for diverse students. Through our first initiative — the Humanities Teaching Alliance with LaGuardia Community College, which is supported by the Mellon Foundation — Graduate Center doctoral students serve as mentors to students at one of the nation’s most diverse and inclusive community colleges.

Institutionalizing diversity in our values and our outcomes is one of the priorities of our strategic plan.

Our faculty and students have long demonstrated their commitment to examining and articulating the needs of minority populations through their scholarship and advocacy.

The Graduate Center is home to more than 30 research centers and institutes, many of which are devoted to addressing issues affecting diverse and underrepresented populations through their research and events. Such centers include the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies; the Center for the Study of Women and Society; CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies; and the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality.

New Initiatives

Attracting exceptional students from underrepresented backgrounds and making them feel welcome in our community are top priorities. We have provided new sources of funding and encouraged our programs to redesign their recruitment strategies with the aim of creating a community of talented and diverse students. Our departments are empowered to work individually with students to establish academic plans that will support their scholarly and career ambitions.

In concert with our student diversity initiatives, we have established new hiring practices that will allow us to recruit and retain outstanding and diverse faculty members and administrators.