Diversity and Inclusion Fund
July 1st, 2020
Dear SoA Alumni,
This is an important moment for all of us. Speaking on behalf of the Dean’s Leadership Council I urge you to act on your convictions and ensure a future of justice and equality for future generations. Your generous contribution to the School’s newly created Diversity and Inclusion Fund will provide life-changing opportunities for Architecture students of color. We are all compelled, at this moment of national unrest over the glaring inequities facing our fellow citizens of color, to take our place as leaders in the fight for what is right.
https://giving.rpi.edu/the-school-of-architecture-diversity-fund/
David Jepson ‘63
Chair of the Dean’s Leadership Council
Rensselaer School of Architecture
Dean’s Leadership Council
School of Architecture
As witnesses to the “intolerable acts of injustice and other atrocities” against individuals of color throughout our lives and our nation’s history, the Members of the Dean’s Leadership Council of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture wholeheartedly endorses Dean Evan Douglis’ June 10, 2020 message to the RPI Community. We extol this message throughout our nation and the world because it represents both the depth of anguish we each feel and our collective vision for an equitable future.
The Council is committed to the continued development of “a civilized, virtuous society.” To demonstrate our commitment, the Council fully funded the inaugural year of three initiatives that directly support the full participation of the School’s students of color in the academic and professional service arenas vital to their lifelong success,
- Annual Student Diversity Scholarship
- NOMAS / National Organization of Minority Architecture Students
- Annual Global Perspectives Lecture
Furthermore, we each will work to foster diversity and equity within our organizations, and we call on the School of Architecture, and the Institute as a whole, to engage in an ongoing systematic analysis and discernment to root out structures, practices and policies that create barriers to people of color.
Leadership Council
Dave Jepson, Chair
Peter Bohlin
James Collins
Steven Ehrlich
Rob Eisenstat
Steve Fabrikant
Harry Gordon
Emily Grandstaff-Rice
Bruce Hamilton
Ed Jeter
Thomas D. Kearns
Francis Pitts
Kathryn Prigmore
Nancy Rankin
Paul Scarbrough
Anne Schopf
Joe Sziabowski
Richard Wolf
//