Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Letters to the Community

Dear Amherst Community Members,

I hope you all are taking good care of yourselves, your friends, loved ones, and colleagues during these challenging times. We are all steeped in two overlapping pandemics: death and violence rooted in anti-Black racism and the COVID-19 pandemic itself. Neither global pandemics or the oppression of Black people are new to the human race—both are deeply rooted in many of our collective systems and practices.

June 24, 2019

Dear students, faculty, and staff,

Last week we welcomed our new dean of students, Elizabeth Agosto, to Amherst. As many of you will recall, Liz comes to us from Dartmouth, where she served for six years as senior associate dean for student affairs. While there, Liz oversaw an 80-member team in areas that included wellness, case management, diversity and inclusion, and religious and spiritual life. Both of us were involved in the search for a dean of students. We are delighted to have Liz as a colleague and look forward to working with her as we continue to focus our divisions on enhancing students’ experiences and success at Amherst.

February 14, 2018

Dear Amherst Community,

As you may know, the College has recently been awarded a prestigious $500,000 Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) Program grant, made possible through The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grant will fund an initiative aimed at attracting and preparing Amherst students from underrepresented groups for graduate study and academic positions in the humanities, with an overarching goal of contributing to the Mellon Foundation’s mission to diversify the faculty ranks of American institutions of higher learning.

June 14, 2017

Dear Members of the Community,

As the College moves into summer many of you are appropriately focused on summer projects and, hopefully, vacations.

In the Office of Diversity & Inclusion, we’re also looking ahead as we concentrate on the continued execution of our mission and goals next year.  As a part of that process, I want to offer a brief update on some members of the diversity & inclusion team and tell you about some of our plans.

March 6, 2017 

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

Last Wednesday, we gathered as students, staff and faculty for a discussion about the transgender and gender nonbinary community. Through that discussion, students made clear the ways in which our community is unaware of and disconnected from the needs of trans and nonbinary students, who spoke powerfully and honestly about their experiences and allowed me to recognize how important this conversation is to our community. Today’s Supreme Court decision to vacate a lower court’s ruling in favor of a trans student in Virginia reinforces the need to continue and expand the work of inclusion.

February 7, 2017

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

Since November 2016, and especially over the past 10 days, Amherst College has taken a number of actions to help students and others in the campus community address concerns and uncertainty about the government’sattempts to limit immigration. Given the rapid pace of events and wide-ranging efforts we have undertaken, we want to take this opportunity to provide, in one document, a clear, simple summary of our key initiatives and resources, several of which we are announcing for the first time.

August 16, 2016

 Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

I am absolutely thrilled to join the Amherst community as Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. I believe strongly in the mission of liberal arts education and its service to democratic values. Amherst’s academic excellence and the value it places on equity drew me to this institution. Over the coming months and years, I look forward to working with you to achieve three clear overarching goals that are embedded in the seven institutional priorities set forth in the College’s strategic plan. These priorities will guide the work of the Office of Diversity & Inclusion (ODI): 

July 22, 2016

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

I am absolutely thrilled to join the Amherst community as Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. I believe strongly in the mission of liberal arts education and its service to democratic values. Amherst’s academic excellence and the value it places on equity drew me to this institution. Over the coming months and years, I look forward to working with you to achieve three clear overarching goals that are embedded in the seven institutional priorities set forth in the College’s strategic plan. These priorities will guide the work of the Office of Diversity & Inclusion (ODI):