Diversity is essential to innovation. The UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering has launched a Student and Faculty Racial Equity Task Force and is building on campus-wide initiatives as it works to ensure that all engineering and computer science students, faculty and staff can thrive and innovate.
With critical input and guidance from Black students and other students of color, Christine Alvarado and Karen Christman, who are both professors and Associate Deans at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, led the creation of the Student and Faculty Racial Equity Task Force. The task force also includes two student affairs staff members, one who works with graduate students and the other undergraduates; a representative from the Jacobs School's IDEA Engineering Student Center; a faculty representative from each department; and the Jacobs School Faculty Equity Advisor.
"We are taking stock of where the Jacobs School stands both in terms of statistics and culture," said Christine Alvarado, who is Associate Dean for Students and a Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) professor at the Jacobs School. "We will be looking at how the Jacobs School compares, in terms of student and faculty diversity, to state and national statistics, and setting concrete targets for where the Jacobs School wants to be in 2025."
The Jacobs School's Department of Computer Science and Engineering is also a leader in efforts to strengthen department culture and celebrate and support diversity and departments and centers across the school are making important progress as well.