DEI: Resources
Student-Led Initiatives
Congress to Campus
In October 2023, the Adams Intercultural Center hosted the Congress To Campus Welcome Dinner. Congress To Campus is an initiative that enhances civic education by encouraging students on college campuses to engage in bipartisan conversations with former members of Congress, Congressional staffers, and U.S. diplomats.
Organized by graduate assistants Rejaun Heusner MHEL '24 and Emma MacShara MHEL '25, this dinner was the welcoming event for former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman and former Congressman John Faso. Together with HWS Votes, we welcomed student leaders including representatives from our cultural and social justice clubs, student trustees, student government presidents, and more to engage in an evening of discussion about public service, politics, and how young people can prepare to lead for a changing world. Throughout the evening, students got to ask Mr. Glickman and Mr. Faso questions about their time in office and how to understand the current social and political climates we find ourselves in.
Student Caucus
The student club caucus serves as a platform for students from diverse cultural backgrounds to come together, engage in meaningful dialogue, and advocate for their unique interests and concerns. The student caucus is led by Hobart and William Smith Colleges cultural, global awareness, and social justice student organizations ASU, CSA, MSA, MAU, Kings of Power, Hillel and Sankofa. The student club caucus engages in the following:
Provides a space for all cultural and identity-based clubs to come where they can discuss cultural and global issues, promote cultural awareness and understanding, and organize events and activities that celebrate and educate about different cultures.
So far this year, the student club caucus planned a peaceful vigil in honor of civilians who lost their lives in the Palestine and Israel conflict.
National Organizations
CAMPUS OFFICES
The Office of Human Resources
The Office of Human Resources is committed to attracting and supporting faculty and staff comprised of women and men that fully represent the racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity of the nation and actively seek applications from under-represented groups.
Higher Education Opportunity Program
The Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) provides access to educationally and economically disadvantaged students, increasing campus diversity.
Adams Intercultural Center
The Adams Intercultural Center is a welcoming space that fosters an environment where students find support, challenges, and grounding for their personal growth, academic success, and the development of their leadership skills. Our programs and collaborative initiatives aim to broaden cross-cultural understanding, foster an appreciation of diversity, inclusion and social justice, as well as strengthen community bonds and promote a shared sense of belonging. In an effort to advance the Colleges' mission and vision, the Center works with DEI to strategically address diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in partnership with faculty, staff and members of the community at large.
The Office of Spiritual Engagement
The Office of Spiritual Engagement seeks to constructively engage the pluralism of contemporary life and promote a respect for the dignity of every human being, a concern for justice and peace among all people.
Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning
Bringing the classroom into the community, the Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning encourages students become engaged in the many cultures of our own society.
The Counseling Center
The Counseling Center strives to enhance the well-being of students through facilitating their emotional, interpersonal, and intellectual development. The Counseling Center team works to create a safe environment that is inclusive and welcoming of all students, and serve as consultants to the greater campus.
LGBTQ+ Resource Center
During 2016-2017, a steering committee of faculty, staff, and students established the Colleges’ LGBTQ+ Resource Center. The Center actively promotes academic and personal growth for the HWS LGBTQ+ community.
First Generation Initiative
The First Generation Initiative (FGI) is an institutional initiative that strives to build a connected and supportive community of first generation students, faculty, staff, and alumni/ae. The program was started in 2006 and is currently directed by Christine de Denus, an Associate Professor of Chemistry who is first generation herself.