The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences strives to follow ASU’s charter as “a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom we exclude, but rather by whom we include and how they succeed.”
Take a look at where we’re at now and what we’re doing to support diversity and inclusion within The College community and beyond.
Who are we as a college?
As the academic core of the New American University, The College fosters educational excellence, intellectual inquiry, discovery and unmatched access through our unique collection of programs in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities.
Our students, staff and faculty represent diverse cultures and backgrounds. Here are some of the demographics that make up our students and faculty in The College. (Statistics are pulled from fall 2020 data.)
30% of undergraduate and graduate students are historically underrepresented minorities.*
30% of immersion students; 31% of ASU Online students.
30% of undergraduate students are first generation.
28% of immersion students; 33% of ASU Online students.
63% of undergraduate and graduate students identify as female.
63% of undergraduate students; 58% of graduate students. Available data does not yet include non-binary student information.
16% of faculty are historically underrepresented minorities.*
62% of those faculty identify as female.
56% of faculty are tenured or on tenure track.
44% are tenured; 12% are on tenure track.
*Historically underrepresented minorities include American Indian/Alaska Native, Black or African American, Hispanic/Latino and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.
What do we aspire to be?
We’re building a community of belonging where every voice matters, and where new perspectives and histories are shared.
In turn, we hope to empower our students as a new generation of leaders that will help societies become more socially just.
The Dean’s Advisory Council on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is charged with making recommendations for activities, policies and practices that will improve The College climate and culture, enhance diversity and inclusion, expand access to resources that address issues of difference and power and improve equity in teaching and learning.
How do we show a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion?
As outlined in the university’s Charter, ASU assumes “fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves.” The College is an integral part of that purpose.
Members of The College community are leading several initiatives and programs that support diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at a local and global scale.
Awards and funding
This fellowship, supported by The College, the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies and the ASU Library, seeks to support the travel and research necessary to make a meaningful contribution to the fields of American Indian history/studies, federal-Indian policies and Indigenous relations with other peoples or the natural environment.
Start with Equity Fellows work with Children’s Equity Project members to conduct, review and translate cutting-edge equity research in early childhood education and serve as interns at a policymaking organization to develop a better understanding of how research becomes policy.
First-generation college students enrolled in undergraduate degree programs at The College may apply for over $10,000 in scholarships. Applications are available each fall and scholarships are awarded and distributed for the fall and spring semesters.
The Jenessa Shapiro Undergraduate Research Scholarship supports annually one to two ENERGIZE students with documented financial need and demonstrated potential in psychology research, with funding of up to $5000.
Campus and community conversations
The School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership led a program of discussion, learning and action for a renewal of our common pledge to respect and protect the equal rights of all Americans to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
How can narratives and experiences from hundreds of years ago help us make sense of today’s issues? The Sundial, a digital publication by ACMRS Press, welcomes difficult conversations and uncomfortable moments, helping readers and contributors think about what inclusivity is and should mean for all of us, and where we start envisioning inclusive futures.
TomorrowTalks hosted by the Department of English places thought leaders of today in conversation with the changemakers of tomorrow: our students. Each distinguished speaker will explain how they use writing to address our most pressing challenges.
The Women and Politics Working Group has been active in the School of Politics and Global Studies since 2013. The working group is a large group of scholars whose research focuses on women’s role in politics.
Centers and institutes
This center promotes work that is historically grounded and theoretically expansive, with the aim of advancing dialogues that reach into the present moment and point us to different, more inclusive, futures.
Center for Imagination in the Borderlands initiatives, collaborations, guests and community engagements acknowledge and dismantle the British and European lenses which have excluded so many Indigenous and diasporic experiences of language and story.
This center’s mission is to actively drive the discourse and experiences of underrepresented girls in STEM by owning, generating and critiquing the collective body of scholarship on, and offering culturally responsive programs for, girls of color and STEM education.
The Humanities Lab provides students with the opportunity to engage in hands-on research on compelling social challenges of interest to today’s students while working with others who are also invested in making a difference.
K-12 outreach
The College’s Early Start program is a free program for students that allows them to join the campus community nine days before the start of the fall semester to prepare them for success in an immersive, integrated experience.
This lab within the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics conducts high-quality research studies that provide insight into social and cultural factors that shape children's and adolescents' social, school and psychological adjustment in diverse populations.
This series of initiatives within the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics is focused on using basic research to identify factors and develop programs that promote positive outcomes among Latino youth and their families.
This storytelling and advocacy project funded by the Institute for Humanities Research and the Global Sport Institute seeks to disrupt anti-transgender legislation and policies by collecting and sharing primary accounts from transgender and non-binary students.
Socially embedded programming
In partnership with Rising Youth Theatre, this project led by Rafael Martínez Orozco and Lily Villa is a decolonized approach to centering the lived experiences of marginalized people through student-led story circles. This project will build a living archive of stories that speak directly to our community.
The Children’s Equity Project at the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics works at the intersection of research, practice and policy and focuses on closing opportunity gaps and dismantling systemic racism in learning settings to ensure that children reach their full potential.
RaceB4Race is an ongoing conference series and professional network community by and for scholars of color working on issues of race in premodern literature, history and culture. RaceB4Race centers the expertise, perspectives and sociopolitical interests of BIPOC scholars, whose work seeks to expand critical race theory.
This program, led by the School of Molecular Sciences, is part of the larger Inclusive Graduate Education Network, a collaboration of more than 30 professional societies and institutions, leading a paradigm shift in increasing the participation of Black, Latino and Indigenous students in graduate programs in physical sciences.
Training and mentorship
This committee within the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies helps students and the broader community understand the ongoing realities of systemic racial violence and oppression, and amplifies past and present voices offering alternative visions of justice.
The Online Undergraduate Research Scholars (OURS) program reinforces The College’s commitment to excellence and inclusion by creating research opportunities, organizing community-building events and providing scholarships to ASU Online students.
This student-run organization dedicated to closing the gender gap in mathematics. Undergraduate students, graduate students, post-docs and professors come together to create and foster a strong community around girls and young women interested in mathematics. Membership is open to any student, regardless of gender identity or expression, race, color, religion, age, national origin, sexual orientation or disability.
The goal of this signature initiative of the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics is to increase participation of undergraduate and graduate students from historically underrepresented or excluded groups in social science research through several program initiatives.