In 2016, the Department appointed an advisor for diversity and inclusion from among the faculty. This advisor is a point person who role is to streamline communications between the different constituencies in the department. The advisor makes regular reports to the entire faculty, who then discuss and make decisions collaboratively. The position, which is voluntary, will rotate regularly to ensure that no single faculty member is disproportionately burdened.

We believe that this organizational structure has enabled us to make equity, diversity, and inclusion a normative part of our teaching, curricular planning, and hiring. Prof. Osayimwese served as the first Diversity Advisor from 2016-2018, and Prof. Moser assumed that role in the fall of 2018.

Our department participates in the University’s Presidential Diversity Postdoctoral Fellows program which identifies promising recent Ph.D. graduates from underrepresented groups at Brown.

The department has initiated an exciting teaching exchange with Tougaloo College that began in Fall 2018. Prof. Phoenix Savage opened her Tougaloo course on African-American Art to Brown students who participated in the course using digital technology. On the other side, Prof. Sheila Bonde opened her course HIAA 0010: The Global History of Art and Architecture to Tougaloo students.

The exchange aligns with several of our diversity goals. It exposes students to content not strongly represented in the current curriculum and increases the enrollment of students from historically underrepresented groups into department courses. It also expands the range of Tougaloo’s Art Department course offerings and creates a pathway for mentoring select Tougaloo students for potential graduate study in History of Art and Architecture at Brown University.