Office of Diversity and Inclusion
Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion Fund
About the Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion Fund
A commitment to openness and diversity of ideas, perspectives, and experiences is a core institutional value of the University. This acknowledges that successful fulfillment of Brown’s mission to advance knowledge and understanding in service to the community, nation, and the world requires cultivating a wide range of ideas, perspectives, and experiences.
The Pathways fund helps Brown meet this goal in two ways:
- Through the generosity of donors, the Pathways fund enables dozens of student-centered initiatives each year, ranging from small events to large forums that enhance the experiences of our entire campus. Committed to the notion that diversity is essential for an academic community dedicated to making a positive impact through its mission, Pathways-funded programming is a reflection of the core mission of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
- The Pathways Fund is also an important resource for the recruitment efforts of the Office of College Admission. The fund supports initiatives to sustain the pathways of talented applicants to Brown from a full range of backgrounds, including alumni engagement initiatives to cultivate relationships with admitted students to help them decide to choose Brown.
Supporting Community-Driven Programming
Brown community members apply for Pathways support from the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and these applications are read carefully to ensure that collectively the awards help all students to thrive, to feel welcome, and to participate fully in the life of the University. By design, the Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion Fund also helps to ensure that all students have both opportunity and access, spotlighting the routes to and through Brown and providing support for initiatives that draw our collective attention to the diverse ideas, perspectives and experiences that we know are the foundation of academic excellence, scientific innovation, and personal discovery.
The Pathways fund supports student-driven programming, events, and initiatives, and is an important part of our effort to secure an intellectually-dynamic community, to support conversations about diversity, inclusion, and academic excellence, and foster a community that embraces curiosity and self-reflection, no matter how difficult. Pathways funding is available to all recognized student groups, academic and administrative departments, centers and institutes who are creating programming, events, and initiatives for undergraduate, graduate, and medical students.
The ways in which this fund helps to foster a welcoming, diverse, and inclusive campus for everyone in our community include:
- Supporting academic and administrative departments, centers, and institutes that provide resources and mentorship for students from the full range of backgrounds and communities, ensuring that every student thrives here at Brown.
- Investing in campus spaces that nurture a sense of community for all students, wherein discussion about challenging and important issues is staged in a respectful, academically-serious manner, through local programming and small-scale community events.
- Supporting student-centered and student-driven programming and events that promote community-building, critical discourse, skill-building, mentorship, and professional development.
- Ensuring that a broader collective conversation about the positive impact of diversity and inclusion is a regular feature of our community life.
"The Bridge Scholars Program really helped me interact with people who have different perspectives and backgrounds. It made me realize that even though we all fall under the first-gen and low-income group, we are all still different and have different backgrounds and perspectives. It made me be more open to these new perspectives and it also made me be more confident and not overthink my interactions."
— Student attendee, Bridge Scholars Program
Examples of Community-Driven Programming
The Pathways Fund supports a wide variety of notable events and initiatives hosted by student groups and academic and administrative departments throughout the academic year. All of these programs underscore the University’s commitment to welcome and belonging for all. Examples of funded programs include:
- Bridge Scholars Program — a six-week, hybrid summer leadership institute for incoming first-year students who identify as first-generation college students
- Gender Affirming Closet — an initiative led by the LGBTQ Center/Stonewall House that provides programming as well as a physical space for educational, informational and social events centered around gender affirmation and expression
- Black Star Gala — an annual event held by The Black Star Journal, a newspaper highlighting Black student and alumni voices
- Diwali — an annual festival hosted by the Indian Community at Brown, a student organization that celebrates India’s rich culture through festivals, food, dance and discussion
- Vietnamese Students Association Spring Dinner — an event hosted by a student organization that celebrates Vietnamese heritage while fostering dialogue about its history, society and contemporary issues
- GBC Friendsgiving — a Thanksgiving-themed celebration held by the Global Brown Center (GBC) that brings together international students and others to enjoy traditional holiday food and be in community
We hear through reports from organizers and testimonials from students — in the participants’ own words — that students greatly value the support of the Pathways Fund.
This [Gender Affirming Closet] program was such a gift. I’m immensely grateful for the opportunity to receive support from my school that allows me to spend my time on campus as comfortably and happily as possible. As a U-Fli student, it has been a really significant resource to have access to gender-affirming clothing which would otherwise be financially out of reach.
Gender Affirming Closet
Our student leaders noted that it was our most successful Friendsgiving to date (better than the previous five years!) and that we need to host it again in the same way.
Global Brown Center for International Students
Cultivating a Diverse and Inclusive Campus
In addition to supporting Community-Driven Programming, the Pathways Fund is an important resource for Brown’s recruitment efforts. The Fund supports efforts of the Office of College Admission as well as the alumni engagement efforts of partners in the Office of Alumni Relations. The Fund supports initiatives designed to sustain the pathways of talented applicants to Brown from a full range of backgrounds and supports alumni efforts to cultivate relationships for admitted students to help them decide to choose Brown.
The fund accomplishes this through initiatives aimed at:
- Raising awareness of Brown’s holistic, individualized, mission-driven admissions process among prospective students, their families, and guidance counselors.
- Improving Brown’s yield of admitted students from a full range of backgrounds through enhanced alumni volunteer efforts.
- Developing resources for programs focused on regional recruitment with high schools and community-based organizations.
Providing travel grants to campus for prospective and admitted students and their families, and increasing funds available to match financial aid awards from peer institutions.
Brown hands us the blank canvas, yet it’s through the shared experiences of our community, the questions, stories, and shared hopes, that each of us finds the brushstrokes and colors to paint our own unique narrative.
speaking on a panel titled, “Being Black at Brown,” open to all prospective students who attended A Day on College Hill for admitted students
While we may not have every answer to every question, it is just as important for students to simply know that they can and will succeed at Brown. We want them to know that there is a place at Brown for them and that there is a community of alumni ready to support their journey.
a longtime leader in the Brown University Latino Alumni Council, speaking to alumni support of broad-based recruitment outreach efforts
Support the Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion Fund
Contribute to sustaining a campus where all are supported and can thrive.