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Simmons University

Undergraduate School

Mailing Address
300 The Fenway
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Phone
(617) 521-2000
Email address
ugadm@simmons.edu
School Information
"Since its founding in 1899, Simmons’ raison d’etre has been to expand opportunities for women, forging fields that advance equity and justice locally and globally. For more than 100 years, Simmons has put the needs of our students first. Through an education that combines intellectual leadership with professional preparation, we help students lead meaningful lives and build successful careers for the 21st Century" (Source: https://www.simmons.edu/about). The student to faculty ratio is 8 to 1 and over 60 majors and programs are offered. The total undergraduate enrollment is approximately 1,700 and the total graduate enrollment is nearly 5,000.
General Information
Simmons University has been promoting diversity and inclusion initiatives for the last few years. Following the death of George Floyd, the university sought to incorporate DEI topics in the core curriculum. Ibram X. Kendi's book, "How to Be an Anti-Racist," was selected as the community read for Spring 2021. All faculty and staff are required to undergo diversity training, and such training is also required of all student leaders. See developments below:

Actions Taken

Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
Curriculum Changes and Requirements
  • Additionally, "Simmons offers Special Topics Courses to address current events." Past courses include Radical Librarianship as well as Race and Racism.
Faculty/Staff Requirements
  • The President created an Advisory Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
  • As of 2018, Simmons University has implemented mandatory diversity and inclusion training for faculty and staff.
Program and Research Funding
  • The university hosts a Department of Critical Race, Gender, and Cultural Studies which offers numerous programs such as the Gender and Cultural Studies graduate program that has students "clearly articulate the core concepts, main themes, relevant literatures, and central figures in the fields of intersectional feminist studies and critical race studies."
Resources
  • Simmons University's library offers numerous anti-racism resources.
  • Simmons University's Organizational Culture, Inclusion, and Equity Office also offers resources for police reform, equity, and inclusion.
  • The school offers a Multicultural Overnight Student Travel program for prospective students.
Symbolic Actions
  • On February 25, 2021, the university announced that "President Lynn Perry Wooten will moderate an upcoming virtual conversation on anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion with Professor Ibram X. Kendi, one of the world's leading historians and scholars in anti-racism."
  • Ibram X. Kendi's book, "How to Be an Anti-Racist," was selected by Simmons University as "the Spring 2021 Community Read."
  • In 2016, the Dean's Fellow for Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives "was established with a focus on diversity."
  • In 2015-2017, the school had a SLIS Diversity and Inclusion Task Force that worked towards diversity and inclusion "at the university level."
  • On July 30, 2020, the president released a statement announcing that "I will ask the Presidential Advisers on Diversity to recommend a new set of initiative and actions to engage our whole community in the fight against systemic racism and societal injustice."
  • Following the death of George Floyd, the president released a statement saying, "George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor are but the latest victims of society’s inherent racism."
Last updated July 26th, 2022
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