When we come together: Creating a new scholarship at lightning speed

But to get this brand new scholarship off the ground, they’d have to raise $100,000 in only nine months.

They didn’t do it in nine months. They did it in four.

“We didn’t just barely clear our goal. We blew through it and surpassed our bar,” says Russell Malbrough ’98, co-founder and president of the IPC. 

With the goal met and the scholarship beginning with the 2019-20 academic year, Malbrough believes this is just the beginning of what the Black alumni community can accomplish.

“Just as many voices contribute to the chorus as one, our community of many has banded together to contribute to the future of Brown as one,” he says. “Together they made a statement: they believe in the power of a diverse Brown and are committed to making that vision a reality.”

Being the agents of change

This scholarship is the newest addition to the University’s growing efforts to improve diversity and inclusion. The biggest piece of that puzzle has been the Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion action plan, which set an ambitious framework for cultivating a fully diverse and inclusive Brown.

In the three years since its launch in February 2016, it has helped boost the number of faculty and graduate students from historically underrepresented groups, as well as propelled the establishment of the U-FLi Center (Undocumented, First-Generation College and Low-Income Student Center).