Yale Initiatives

Belonging at Yale
Belonging at Yale supports our community’s ongoing and long-term efforts to increase diversity, ensure equity, and enhance a sense of inclusion and belonging for everyone. In order to thrive, we must all communicate and collaborate in good faith, engage in critical reflection, hold ourselves and others accountable for our actions, and address any conflict that may arise. As it looks to the future, Belonging at Yale also draws on the work of generations of students, faculty, alumni, and staff who have striven and sacrificed to dismantle systemic deficiencies and let in greater light and truth.

Belonging at Yale Faculty Grants
The Poorvu Center collaborates with the Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration (RITM) to administer Belonging at Yale faculty grants. These funds are available to support ambitious efforts to address issues of campus climate and/or institutional diversity. Faculty may apply for a grant via Belonging at Yale and RITM websites.

Black Students for Disarmament at Yale
We are a a group of undergraduate students who, in the late hours following a 7+ hour rally on Thursday April 19, 2019, deemed it necessary to take a strong stance alongside New Haven in its fight for justice for Stephanie Washington and Paul Witherspoon. We were moved by the spirit of New Haven organizers and sought a means of using our privilege as Yale students to uplift the voices of those affected by this injustice. We have been working to mobilize Yale students to support the efforts of neighboring community activist organizations such as People Against Police Brutality and Black Lives Matter New Haven, with the common goal of securing justice for Stephanie and Paul.  We are currently demanding that Yale University defund and dismantle the Yale Police Department and use these funds to invest in the New Haven community.

First-Year Scholars at Yale
First-Year Scholars at Yale (FSY) provides a cohort of incoming first-year students with the opportunity to engage early on in the Yale experience for six weeks in the summer. They will start their first semester having been exposed to Yale’s resources and with a team of advisors and friends in place to help them along the way. First-Year Scholars will also have the opportunity to connect with the larger First-Generation, Low-Income community in the fall and throughout their time at Yale through various social supports, academic mentorship, and financial guidance. 

National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity
Yale now has an institutional membership in the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity. All faculty, postdocs, and graduate students now have access to its resources which support the academic success and career progress of everyone in higher education. Founded in 2010, the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity is an independent professional development, training, and mentoring community for faculty members, postdocs, and graduate students. Resources include:

  • A private discussion forum for peer mentoring, problem solving, and moderated writing challenges
  • Monthly accountability buddy matches
  • Monthly Core Curriculum and Guest Expert webinars
  • Access to Dissertation Success Curriculum for graduate students
  • Access to the Member Library that includes webinar materials, referrals, and readings

You may register your confidential, personal membership by completing the following steps:
1) Go to http://www.FacultyDiversity.org/Join 
2) Choose Yale University from the drop-down menu.
3) Select “Activate my Membership”
4) Complete the registration form using your Yale email address 
5) Go to your Yale email to find a confirmation email. Click “Activate Account” in the confirmation email.
If you have any technical questions, please email NCFDD at Membership@FacultyDiversity.org

One Seat Over Podcast
One Seat Over is a new storytelling podcast that aims to give a platform to the untold stories of Yale students. Every Yalie has incredible and unique stories to tell about their lives, and it’s about time we listen!

Listen at: The Yale Herald; Spotify

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program
Each summer the Yale SURF Program brings a group of qualified undergraduates to Yale for eight weeks. The experience is meant to familiarize students with the kind of work they can expect to do in graduate school, provide them with insight into the many steps involved in building a career based on Ph.D. level training, as well as foster a sense of confidence regarding their own abilities and potential. Students are immersed in an academic, professional setting involving a working relationship with a faculty mentor, and possibly a post-doctoral associate, and/or an advanced graduate student, a program of individual research, and participation in a series of program workshops and panel discussions. The focus of the program is primarily on research and on the methods of professional research. Students in the natural sciences learn advanced laboratory methods and conduct Ph.D. level research in state-of-the-art laboratory facilities. Students in the humanities and social sciences work closely with mentors and have at their disposal the considerable archival resources found in the Yale University libraries. Emphasis is also placed on the presentation of research findings to colleagues. All students develop a proposal, give a final presentation to their peers, submit a written final paper, and attend the Leadership Alliance National Symposium to present their research at the meeting.

Eligibility Requirements
The SURF Program is intended for students with a strong desire to pursue research careers at the Ph.D. level. The program is particularly interested in identifying and providing research experience to talented underrepresented students. Preference is given to students completing their sophomore or junior years. However, other students who express persuasive plans for research may be considered. Participation in the summer program is restricted to US citizens and permanent residents.

Covered Expenses
Students are housed at no charge in a Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dormitory. Students receive a $1,000 food allowance at the start of the program. Air or train transportation to and from the program will be covered up to $400 (not including excess luggage charges). All travel arrangements are made through the SURF Program Office.  Students will also receive a stipend of $3,000 upon successful participation in, and completion of, the program.

Program Duration
Eight Weeks in the summer (June and July). The program will begin on the first Monday in June.

How to Apply
To provide a research experience for as many students as possible, applicants with full or partial funding from outside sources are given preference during the selection of the summer research fellows. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is a member of the Leadership Alliance and encourages qualified applicants to apply through their Summer Research-Early Identification Program (SR-EIP). Please visit the Leadership Alliance website for the application. Applications become available November 1 and are due February 1.

Admissions Notification
Only students selected to participate will be notified directly no later than April 1. Approximately 15 students are chosen to participate each summer.

Warrior-Scholars Project
As a dynamic national non-profit, the Warrior-Scholars Project empowers enlisted military veterans by providing them with a skill bridge that enables a successful transition from the battlefield to the classroom, maximizes their education opportunities by making them informed consumers of education, and increases the confidence they will need to successfully complete a rigorous four-year undergraduate program at a top-tier school.

Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute 
The Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute® is an educational partnership between Yale University and the New Haven Public Schools designed to strengthen teaching and learning in local schools and, by example and direct assistance, in high-need schools across the country. Through the Institute, Yale faculty members and New Haven school teachers work together in a collegial relationship. The Institute is also an interschool and interdisciplinary forum for teachers to collaborate on new curricula.

Yale Prison Education Initiative
The Yale Prison Education Initiative at Dwight Hall at Yale seeks to expand upon existing Yale participation in prison education by bringing access to rigorous, for-credit Yale College courses to incarcerated students in Connecticut prisons.