Diversity & Inclusion
Our Mission
Sargent College is committed to the cultivation of a diverse and inclusive culture that supports equity, acceptance, and respect for the differences in others. We believe that diversity and inclusion will bolster academic excellence, propagate impactful research, and enhance practice to best serve the health care needs of society.
Sargent College adopts a definition of diversity that reflects a wide scope of human expression and attributes that include, but are not limited to: race, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, abilities, religion and sexual orientation. We are dedicated to the development and implementation of strategies for successful recruitment and retention of highly qualified students, faculty, and staff who meet this definition of diversity and pledge to nurture an inclusive environment for all.
Resources
- BU Office of Diversity & Inclusion
- BU Disability & Access Services
- BU Center for Gender, Sexuality & Activism
- The Newbury Center: Supporting first-generation undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.
- Glossary for Culture Transformation
- Understanding the Climate for LGBTQ Workers
- Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground
- Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources based on the Intercultural Development Inventory Assessment Tool
- Guidelines for collecting data on sexual orientation and gender identity
- Mind the Gap: A Handbook of Clinical Signs in Black and Brown Skin
- Staff and Faculty Extend Boston University Disability Support (SAFEBUDS)
- BU Guidelines on Inclusive Language
- Access Tips for Zoom
- Terrier F1RSTS
- BU Out List
- LGBTQIA+ Center for Faculty and Staff
- LGBTQIA+ Faculty and Staff Community Network
- Out and Ally Network on the Medical Campus
- Faculty & Staff Assistance Office LGBTQIA+ resources for employees
- Student Resource Flyer
- Additional Resources including podcasts, videos, organizations to follow on social media, and more.
Recommended Reads
- How to Be an Antiracist by
- Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America’s Heartland by
- Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
- Fatal Invention by Dorothy Roberts
- Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper
- Disability Visibility edited by Alice Wong
- Inclusion and Belonging Essential Readings
You can also review this reading list with additional suggestions for novels, non-fiction, and memoirs.
Recommended Courses
For a diverse curriculum, we recommend some – or all – of the following Sargent College courses.
- SAR HS 345: Global Environmental Public Health
- SAR HS 400: Gender and Healthcare
- SAR HS 422: Ethics in Health Care
- SAR HS 430: Global Maternal and Child Health
- SAR HS 439: Global Health Communication and Advocacy
- SAR HS 442: Healthcare Interventions in Low and Lower-Middle Income Countries
- SAR HS 444: Child Health Programs in Low Resource Settings
Events
Day of Collective Engagement: Racism and Antiracism, Our Realities and Our Roles
As a university dedicated to knowledge and truth, Boston University held a day of collective learning and reflection on race, racism, and their impact on our society and communities. Watch the sessions.
Research Spotlight
The STEPP LAB for Sensorimotor Rehabilitation Engineering is working with transmasculine speakers to better understand the longitudinal effects of HRT on their communication, to develop novel behavioral voice modification techniques to increase voice masculinization, and to better understand the underlying relationships between anatomical, physiological, acoustical, and perceptual outcomes of voice modification.
Learn more about this study and other research underway at Sargent College.
News
Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy Leanne Yinusa-Nyahkoon has been awarded an inaugural MACE Foundation Fellowship which supports critically-needed research opportunities for Black, Brown, and Indigenous female research scientists, medical doctors, and other healthcare professionals, whose research focus is American Black, Brown, and Indigenous women’s physical and maternal health, maternal mortality, and the health of their babies. Yinusa-Nyahkoon’s Fellowship funding will support the MOTHERS (Moving Occupational Therapy and Health Equity into Reproductive-Care Systems) Program which aims to change the narrative and norms of reproductive care for Black mothers. Read more.
Sargent College has been awarded a $10,000 Diversity and Inclusion Promotion Grant from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. This grant supports minority recruitment and retention projects by dietetics education programs accredited/approved by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND), dietetic practice groups, member interest groups, and Academy affiliates. Read more.
Sargent College student groups – Diverse-OT and the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association – and one Sargent faculty member were recipients of the inaugural Inclusive Catalyst Grants from Boston Universiy’s Office of Diversity & Inclusion. Out of a total of seven grant awardees, three recipients were members of the Sargent College community. Learn more
Questions?
Contact Clinical Assistant Professor Laura Driscoll, Sargent’s Director of Faculty Diversity and Inclusion or Clinical Associate Professor Michele DeBiasse.