With The Brown Model: Pathways to Inclusion & Belonging national tour, Dr. Sylvia Carey-Butler — Brown’s vice president of institutional equity and diversity — is traveling to alumni clubs around the country to present the University’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Brown’s progressive and purposeful approach to diversity and inclusion has made it a model in higher education. But, the University’s work in this sphere doesn’t stop at the boundaries of our campus. Our alumni, parents, and friends play an integral role in Brown’s mission to create an inclusive, diverse, and vibrant academic community.

Upcoming Events

Want to learn more? Join us for an upcoming event in a city near you.

 

Meeting the Moment

NEW YORK CITY, NY

October 4, 2023

It’s an exciting time at Brown. Discover why the University is sustaining its commitment to an inclusive undergraduate community and how it’s establishing recruitment pipelines to attract students who embody the social and intellectual diversity of the world, as well as the myriad of ways that Brown is impacting scholarship and research on campus.

Register

SPEAKERS

Sylvia Carey-Butler

Sylvia Carey-Butler

Vice President for Institutional Equity and Diversity

Elfred A. Pinkard

Elfred A. Pinkard

Brown University HBCU Presidential Fellow

Alyssia Coates

Alyssia Coates (moderator)

Senior Director of Development, Inclusive Philanthropic Engagement

 

DEI Catalyst at Brown & Beyond

CHICAGO, IL

November 6, 2023

Brown is known for its vibrant and interdisciplinary academic environment. Hear firsthand about Brown’s commitment to diversity and inclusion and the University’s vision to sustain and advance an inclusive community of scholars on campus and beyond.

SPEAKERS

Sylvia Carey-Butler

Sylvia Carey-Butler

Vice President for Institutional Equity and Diversity

Noliwe Rooks

Noliwe Rooks

Chair and Professor, Africana Studies
Rites and Reason Theatre L. Herbert Ballou University

Alyssia Coates

Alyssia Coates (moderator)

Senior Director of Development, Inclusive Philanthropic Engagement

If you have questions or would like to RSVP for an upcoming event, contact yolanda_meikle@brown.edu.

 

About The Brown Model

The Brown Model: Pathways to Inclusion & Belonging tour seeks to acquaint our community with the pathbreaking programs and initiatives happening at Brown today. While the University has garnered national recognition for its endeavors, these accomplishments are the results of years of work that came before.

In 1964, during the Civil Rights era, the University formalized the Brown University-Tougaloo College Partnership (BTP) to enrich both campuses through student, faculty, and administrative exchanges. The partnership emphasized financial assistance for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), bringing national attention to the issue.

In 1986, the University established the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America (CSREA), one of the nation’s earliest academic centers dedicated to research, scholarship, and academic exchanges on issues of race and ethnicity. 

In 2003, President Ruth Simmons appointed a steering committee on Slavery and Justice to explore Brown’s historical relationship to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade and its legacies of inequity and injustice. The committee culminated with its 2006 report, detailing the role of Brown’s founders and benefactors in the slave trade and the benefits the University derived from these activities. Brown released a second edition in 2021 that offered insights into this report’s persistent and evolving impact, both on and beyond Brown’s campus.

One primary recommendation from the original report was to create the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice (CSSJ), which was formally established in 2012.

In 2013, President Christina H. Paxson introduced her strategic plan, Building on Distinction. One of its central themes was “building peaceful, just, and prosperous societies,” with a goal of leveraging Brown’s strength in using a multidisciplinary approach to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

Born from that idea was the Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion: An Action Plan for Brown University, commonly referred to as the DIAP. Released in 2016, the DIAP serves as the University’s comprehensive strategic plan to create and sustain a diverse and inclusive community.

Bringing this plan to fruition is the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity (OIED), led by Dr. Sylvia Carey-Butler. Together, they are helping Brown to foster an environment of academic excellence, expand Brown’s curriculum to include diversity and inclusion-related topics, create a respectful community that counteracts injustices, collect and share data to measure progress, and recruit students, faculty, and staff from historically underrepresented groups.

About the Speakers

Sylvia Carey-ButlerDr. Sylvia R. Carey-Butler joined Brown in July 2021 as vice president for institutional equity and diversity, overseeing the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity (OIED).

She comes to Brown with a robust background in academia, previously serving as vice president and chief diversity officer for Kennesaw State University, assistant chancellor for academic support of inclusive excellence at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, assistant provost and dean of honors at Dillard University, and associate dean of studies at Lafayette College. She also served as interim executive director of the United Negro College Fund’s (UNCF) Institute for Capacity Building and the inaugural director of UNCF’s Enrollment Management Program

At Brown University, Carey-Butler is charged with leading phase II of the Pathways to Diversity & Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP) coupled with oversight of the Brown Tougaloo Program, the Leadership Alliance, the Affirmative Action Plan, along with other key diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Elfred A. PinkardDr. Elfred Anthony Pinkard served as the 22nd president at Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio from 2018 until his retirement in 2023. That same year, he was named President-In-Residence at the Council of Independent Colleges and the HBCU Presidential Fellow at Brown. 

Prior to his appointment as president, Pinkard served as executive vice president and provost at Wilberforce. Pinkard was the founding executive director of the UNCF Institute for Capacity Building, which provides support and capacity-building assistance for 37 member institutions. In addition to his service at seven HBCUs, hehas served in administrative positions at Colgate University, The College of Wooster, and California State University, Long Beach.

In addition to his work in the academy, Pinkard serves on the leadership team at the Higher Education Leadership Foundation (HELF), a leadership development organization with a focus on developing leaders for HBCUs.

An interdisciplinary scholar, Noliwe Rooks is the chair of and a professor in Africana Studies at Brown where she holds the L. Herbert Ballou University Professorship. Her work explores how race and gender both impact and are impacted by popular culture, social history, and political life in the United States. The author of four books and numerous articles, essays, and op-eds, Rooks has received research funding from the Ford Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Woodrow Wilson School, among others. She lectures frequently at colleges and universities around the country and is a regular contributor to popular outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Time Magazine, and NPR.

Rooks’ current book, in which she coined the term “segrenomics,” is “Cutting School: Privatization, Segregation, and the End of Public Education” which won an award for non-fiction from the Hurston/Wright Foundation.

Alyssia CoatesDr. Alyssia Coates is the senior director of development, inclusive philanthropic engagement at Brown. She oversees the Advancement DEI strategic plan and is responsible for the coordination and collaboration across various units within the division and with University campus partners. She is the academic advancement liaison to administrative and faculty leadership for the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity (OIED), the Centers for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, and the Ruth J. Simmons Study of Slavery and Justice to advance the University’s campaign priorities.

Coates formerly served for 24 years at the University of Notre Dame in several leadership roles, including the regional director of development, senior leader for the enrollment management team, and professor for the College of First Year of Studies. Coates started a national early outreach recruitment model and established a Notre Dame presence across the United States to identify and recruit seventh through tenth grade students to cultivate a pipeline of highly talented students for selective colleges and universities. Coates’s administrative experience includes success in fundraising, strategic planning, staff development, grant management, organizational leadership, event planning, and stewardship.

Supporting the Office of Institutional Equity & Diversity

Want to support Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) initiatives at Brown? There are many ways your gift can make a difference.

  • Building a Bridge Back to Brown: An Oral History Project - Conducting interviews and collecting artifacts to be exhibited at the next Black Alumni Reunion in 2023.
  • Brown University HBCU Collaborative - Fortifying the capacity-building, information-sharing, and experiential initiative to solidify Brown as a bridge builder to historically Black colleges and universities.
  • Presidential Postdoctoral Program - Increasing the pipeline of diverse faculty in STEM disciplines, both at Brown and in the wider academy.


For information about specific giving opportunities, contact:

Alyssia Coates, Ph.D.
Senior Director of Development, Inclusive Philanthropic Engagement
+1 (401) 863-1221
alyssia_coates@brown.edu