I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Scott Taylor as the first Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the SFS. He will take up the position on August 15, 2020.
Scott will lead the engagement across our SFS community to help us formulate and implement concrete measures to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion in our curriculum, our programming, and our recruitment of faculty, staff and students. And through these efforts, Scott will help us to recognize what all of us need to do to foster a climate across SFS to ensure that students, staff, and faculty from a wide range of under-represented backgrounds achieve their fullest potential and impact at our school.
Following a Call to Action from hundreds of our students, staff and faculty, I have committed to make global anti-racism a core principle of the SFS. Scott will engage with us to realize the implications of this commitment and support the implementation of concrete actions to foster that commitment. This is critical to ensuring that the education we offer in global affairs fully engages with issues of racism, inequality and injustice.
I have also asked Scott to work closely with other centers, programs and leaders across our campus to promote actions at the University level that are essential to promoting a diverse and inclusive community at Georgetown and to engage with our peer international affairs schools in a joint effort to ensure that our foreign service, broadly defined, reflects the true diversity of our country and the global order.
Scott will step down from his position as Director of the African Studies Program, which he has ably led since July 2007. Under his leadership, AfSP expanded its certificate program for undergraduates and graduates, created new opportunities for students to travel to and study in Africa, attracted new scholarships for African students and expanded programming on campus to reflect the dynamism of African nations. Transition arrangements for African Studies will be announced shortly.
I would ask all of you not only to welcome Scott to this important role, but to be a genuine partner and ally in these efforts, as this struggle is one we must all be accountable for.
All best,
Dean Hellman