Respected and Valued
The best, most creative, and most efficient engineering solutions result from diverse groups thinking about problems. At the Hajim School, we strive to ensure every individual is respected and valued for the contributions they bring to our academic mission.
Our Goals
Although progress has been made to increase enrollment of underrepresented students and faculty, we need to do more to attract and retain diverse students and faculty in our programs. We must challenge ourselves to expand our thinking and our ideas – about the intellectual nature of our fields, the practical applications of our work, and the professional responsibilities that necessarily follow. Currently, the Hajim School has four long-term goals related to diversity, equity, and inclusion:
Community
Create and sustain an environment that is recognized as being welcoming and inclusive; one where everyone is respected and valued for the perspective they bring to our courses, departments, and school.
Visibility
Implement practices that ensure voices and ideas from underrepresented individuals are recognized and celebrated, both in current practice and in recognizing those in the past who may not have been as widely recognized and celebrated as they should be.
Representation
Achieve populations of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff that mirror the Black, Hispanic/LatinX, and Native American US population by focusing on recruitment and retention/career progression.
Leadership
Develop alumni/advisory committees that are diverse and representative, and use these committees to help fundraise for diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
Diversifying our Disciplines
Our Commitment
Engineering is all about solving problems. And the challenges confronting us are daunting indeed. Climate change, aging infrastructure, rampant pollution, insidious threats to cyber security, global hunger, deadly pandemics—to name just a few.
Many threaten our very existence.
We cannot hope to adequately address these problems when we exclude the unique talents, differing perspectives, and creative solutions that could be offered by the women and persons of color who remain so under-represented in science, technology, engineering, and math in our nation.
Hence, diversifying our disciplines is an imperative.
Letter from the Dean
Overcoming Stereotypes
First Women Graduates
Marie Bessey and Norma Doell overcame long-held stereotypes to become the first women to graduate with engineering degrees from the University of Rochester in 1939.
Read More About Them
Celebrating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Hajim Spotlights
Learn more about our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the profiles of more than 50 faculty, staff, and alumni who serve as role models for the Hajim School community.
View the SpotlightsGet Involved
Every member of the Hajim School has a responsibility for making the world a more inclusive and equitable place. Some of the ways you might be able to play a part include:
Supporting and collaborating with our student affinity groups. We have active student chapters for the following organizations:
Helping to provide underrepresented students crucial research experience early in their academic careers. One way we are leading the charge on the national level is through our National Science Foundation-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs.
Becoming involved in the University’s larger diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Rochester’s Office of Equity and Inclusion offers world-class programming, events, and community engagement opportunities.