December: Share, Engage, and Reflect

In 2024, many Yale students, faculty, staff, and alumni engaged with Cultivating Conversation, a newly launched Belonging at Yale initiative. Members of the university community participated in workshops, events, circles, and monthly diversity celebrations. They contributed to Belonging unit plans, supporting priorities and actions taken across all schools and administrative divisions to advance Belonging at Yale. The following update includes a request to share your Cultivating Conversation engagement and highlights of progress over the last year. 

Share with Us

We want to know how you cultivate conversation in your classroom, lab, workplace, or home. Have you hosted a conversation series or lecture, started a podcast, developed a resource, or engaged with the Cultivating Conversation initiative in another way? Please share your examples and ideas so that we may consider recognizing or promoting them to the broader Yale community on dedicated Cultivating Conversation web pages launching in the coming months.

Engage and Reflect with Us

Through the Belonging Unit Plans, monthly diversity celebrations, and other activities, we’ve continued to focus on enhancing diversity, supporting equity, and promoting an environment of welcome, inclusion, and respect.   

This year, through a commitment to cultivating conversation, we’ve focused on being open and curious about differing perspectives that may not align with our own and equipping ourselves with the skills to converse, connect, and engage with people of all backgrounds and beliefs.  

Explore this year’s activities:

Have we missed something? Please let us know.

Belonging Unit Plans

In a coordinated effort across the university, each school and administrative division develops a yearly action plan to support and enhance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Plans give specific attention to the experiences of staff, faculty, alumni, and students, especially people of color. This planning process was initiated in October 2020 as part of a new phase of Belonging at Yale.

Learn how your unit, or others, supported Belonging at Yale over the last year. Additionally, President Maurie McInnis and Secretary and Vice President for University Life Kimberly Goff-Crews will share the 2024 Belonging at Yale annual report in early December.

Ongoing Engagement Opportunities

Cultivating Conversation Resources and Events  

Program-specific resources and events were developed and hosted by the Office of the Secretary and Vice President for University Life to celebrate the kickoff of Cultivating Conversation, including:

Launching Cultivating Conversation

In August 2024, Secretary and Vice President for University Life Kimberly Goff-Crews announced Cultivating Conversation. This Belonging at Yale initiative creates a framework in which members of the Yale community can engage with one another respectfully, be open and curious to differing perspectives that may not align with our own, and be equipped to converse, connect, and engage with people of all backgrounds and beliefs.

Read a Your Yale article and watch the related video featuring Secretary and Vice President for University Life Kimberly Goff-Crews, describing the Cultivating Conversation initiative and its role in advancing the university’s mission.
 

Learn about Free Expression at Yale

Students, faculty, and staff were encouraged to watch a video reinforcing Yale’s commitment to free expression at the start of the academic year. In that video, Secretary and Vice President for University Life Kimberly Goff-Crews ’83 B.A., ’86 J.D.; Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity Chair and Department of Internal Medicine Paul B. Beeson Professor of Medicine Gary Desir ’80 M.D; Yale College Student Mason Shipp ’25; and Woodbridge Fellow Yasmeen Abed ’24 B.A. shared their perspectives. They invited the Yale community to be open and curious—to engage in conversation with one another.

The free exchange of ideas is fundamental to the vibrant intellectual life of the Yale community and foundational to deep academic inquiry. Learn more by visiting Free Expression at Yale and read the Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression at Yale (“Woodward Report”), which represents Yale’s free expression policy.

Cultivating Conversation: Creating Spaces for Teams to Thrive

This fall, Yale managers gathered to hear from two experts from the Yale School of Management about “Creating Spaces for Teams to Thrive,” led by Heidi Brooks, senior lecturer in organizational behavior, and Kavitha Bindra, assistant dean and executive director of executive education.

Create Space to Thrive with These Five Strategies

More recently, insights from the “Creating Spaces for Teams to Thrive” event were shared with the broader campus community. Learn about the five strategies they shared in that Cultivating Conversation-sponsored session and explore additional resources such as podcasts, books, and more.

Do you know of other events happening at Yale? Please share your Cultivating Conversation events or resources with us so we may consider recognizing or promoting them to the broader Yale community on dedicated Cultivating Conversation web pages launching in the coming months.

Announcements

On March 5, Provost Scott Strobel and Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity Gary Desir shared an update on Strengthening Yale’s Partnership with HBCUs, citing that “Over the next five years, Yale will commit $2 million annually, for a total of $10 million, to establish the Alliance for Scholarship, Collaboration, Engagement, Networking, and Development (ASCEND) to deepen the relationship between HBCUs and Yale through bidirectional partnerships centered on research, teaching, and access for students.”

To view additional news and announcements, visit the Belonging at Yale News page and the Office of the President website.

Stay Connected

Meaningful opportunities for dialogue and feedback are central to Belonging at Yale and Cultivating Conversation. Please share your ideas for deepening our culture of belonging.