Yale Math Statement on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

The Yale math department strives to create an inclusive and supportive environment for all members of its community to learn and work together. We acknowledge, welcome, and celebrate our differences, including those related to race, gender, gender identity, nationality, immigration status, sexual orientation, religion, disability status, and socioeconomic status.

Since summer 2020 the department has convened a standing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) committee that meets regularly to discuss, plan, and enact change intended to make our community more welcoming, equitable, and inclusive.

In an effort to better understand the challenges facing our community, the department partnered with the Poorvu Center in 2021 and again in 2023 to survey and collect data on the experiences of its members. The responses will inform and guide the development and prioritization of efforts to best support current and future staff, students, and faculty. We have organized these efforts around the following domains:

Faculty hiring

The mathematics department receives a considerable volume of feedback from the Yale mathematics community urging us to focus on diversity in our faculty hiring. Because of the confidential nature of this process, it is hard for us to give many details about it, even though in fact the goal of improving faculty diversity is crucial to us. We emphasize that our efforts to improve diversity in our department are not confined to a given search but span multiple years as we work to build a knowledge base and network of diverse and excellent scholars. We will try here to give a general picture of the specific strategies that we use to further the goal of diversity.

In the initial stages of a mathematics faculty search, members of the department communicate with colleagues and experts at other institutions, within and outside the US, to build a broad, diverse initial pool of excellent candidates. Actually it is more accurate to say that this process is ongoing at all times, allowing the department to maintain an updated picture of the field of candidates. When a specific search is approved, it is advertised and the department collects applications (formerly through Mathjobs, a profession-wide platform, and currently through Interfolio). This is especially useful when the search includes a junior (tenure-track) component. In this process we pay particular attention to keeping the pool diverse, knowing that the rest of our search is shaped by the outcome of the first stage.

Through this process, we gradually begin to learn more about the candidates and to narrow down the pool. We contact some of them informally, learn if they are in fact available, and invite them to visit. Visiting candidates typically give a talk and meet some of us individually.

In the last three or four years this approach has been particularly successful and brought to the department a stunning group of mathematicians of the highest level. The current total number of women in the senior faculty is two.

At a larger time scale, the search process brings the department into contact with promising young mathematicians from less well-represented groups, many of whom are in demand at all of the top research departments in the world. We are eager to build relationships with these strong candidates, hoping that even if they are not currently available, some of them will be interested in coming to Yale in the next stage of their careers. Thus in the course of any given search we are laying the groundwork for diversifying the next one.

Undergraduate program

Graduate program

DEIB Programming

Notes from the climate surveys

The department is committed to continuing its efforts to foster a more inclusive and supportive mathematics community. If you have suggestions in this direction we welcome them via this comment box where anyone can leave an anonymous comment/question/suggestion which will be read and addressed by the DEI committee.

These ideas may cause individuals to think about their own experiences and concerns, including regarding discrimination and harassment. Yale offers a variety of resources that may be helpful in resolving an individual’s concerns by determining an appropriate and supportive course of action. They include the Discrimination and Harassment Resource Coordinators, the Office of Institutional Equity and Accessibility (OIEA), and the Title IX Coordinators. These individuals and offices have been charged by the University with receiving and responding to concerns of discrimination and harassment, and will be able to provide support. Please know that our ability to respond to specific individual concerns noted or referenced in an anonymous survey may be very limited. We encourage you to bring any specific concerns to these offices and people, as they will be positioned to provide you with specific resources and support.