Initiative on Diversity and Inclusiveness
Georgetown University's President John J. DeGioia announced steps to foster respect for diversity and inclusiveness within the campus community at a student town hall meeting on April 20, 2009. Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Equity Rosemary Kilkenny and Provost Jim O’Donnell are the co-chairs of this initiative, which is composed of three working groups:
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Working Group on Academics: This working group will look at questions of how we can best and most appropriately facilitate crosscultural learning, dialogue and understanding in the classroom and through the curriculum.
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Working Group on Student Recruitment and Admissions: This working group will recommend ways to increase the number of underrepresented students at Georgetown. It will also recommend ways that the University can ensure that all applicants considering Georgetown understand that the university seeks students who will contribute to, learn from, and always respect the university's multicultural community.
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Working Group on Student Life: This working group will look at student life -- especially Georgetown's co-curricular approaches to preparing students to live and interact in a multicultural community. The working group will identify improvements that we can make in New Student Orientation, Residence Life programming, and leadership development and mentoring for student clubs, among other topics.
Upcoming Events:
The Diversity Initiative made strong progress throughout the summer as working group members met to research potential recommendations to promote inclusiveness and strengthen our Georgetown community. Now that classes have begun, we look forward to sharing our progress at a community dialogue for the campus community this Thursday, September 24th, in Copley Formal Lounge at 5:30 pm. Please come to hear about the work which has taken place this summer, listen to the working groups' plans for the fall semester, and share your own thoughts with us. We welcome your input in this important discussion for our campus community.