Diversity

new math department graduate students standing in front of a sculpture in Woods Quad
Math graduate students pose in front of “Mobius and Borromean Rings,” commissioned by the Department of Mathematics. The department recently won an award for its success in recruiting a diverse graduate student body.

The College of Arts and Sciences is committed to helping our students, faculty, and staff experience, celebrate, and learn from our diverse community and to encouraging that diversity within their ranks, in the workplace, and in academic discourse.

This goal is accomplished primarily through a range of initiatives. These include encouraging staff and faculty to discuss different ideas and issues related to diversity within their departments and administrative units, support for faculty research and teaching, invitations to speakers to the campus on research related to issues of diversity, support for student organizations and their events, and the work of the A&S College Diversity Committee.

Diversity Committee

The College has established a Diversity Committee whose specific mission is to promote and celebrate mutual understanding, dignity, respect, and cooperation among all those at the University of Alabama. In particular, the committee seeks to develop initiatives that encourage an environment where individuals of every race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability status, religion, or other protected class are welcome and valued at our University.

The Committee seeks to enhance diversity across the College by developing, guiding, and advancing initiatives that promote diversity, equity and inclusion through

  • encouraging, creating, and promoting policies, programs, and efforts that recognize, respect, and celebrate diversity throughout the College
  • develop proposals for campus diversity initiative funding
  • advising the Dean on recruitment and retention of a diverse faculty, staff, and student body

More information about the Diversity Committee and its activities is available at diversity.as.ua.edu.

Campus Resources

The UA Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion provides numerous resources — on-campus, virtual, and non-UA — on diversity, being an ally, and UA initiatives toward creating and supporting a more inclusive campus.

Contact

For more information about the College’s diversity initiatives, contact Dr. Utz McKnight, associate dean, at utz.mcknight@ua.edu.