About

Diversity

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Emma Willard School was founded in 1814 as a school for girls in a time when girls did not have ready access to secondary education. Today, more than 200 years later, Emma Willard School strives every day to broaden and deepen that initial spark of access, inclusivity, and justice. As our world has grown more connected, so has Emma.  Our community now includes students from 38 countries with a myriad of ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds. This social and cultural richness provides a platform for curiosity and additional opportunities for emotional and intellectual growth. The diversity, equity, and inclusion values we foster and practice at our school are expressed here:
 
At Emma Willard School, we commit ourselves to building a community that values and celebrates differences, encourages dialogue, fosters mutual respect, and highlights our shared purpose and ideals. We are dedicated to the empowerment of all of our students, and we are guided by a deep understanding that a diverse, inclusive environment and academic excellence are inextricably linked.

Contact us any time

Christine Gilmore
Head of Institutional Equity and Inclusion
cgilmore@emmawillard.org

Gemma Halfi
Associate Director of Equity and Inclusion
ghalfi@emmawillard.org

News of Interest

List of 5 news stories.

  • Emma Willard School's Black and Latinx Student Union (BLSU)

    BLSU Presents “Young, Black, and Gifted” - A Black History Month Celebration

    By Sandra Santana
    Yesterday, the Emma Willard School community united in a powerful tribute to the rich cultural legacy and historical contributions of Black Americans. With the theme "Young, Black, and Gifted," the BLSU's assembly illuminated the vibrancy of Black culture nationwide.
  • ASU and MIASU host traditional games and crafts

    Lunar New Year at Emma

    Lunar New Year is an important tradition in many cultures and is celebrated by millions of people around the globe. Marking the first new moon of the calendar year, Lunar New Year is observed in many different ways, and both the customs and duration of the holiday vary from one culture or country to another.
  • Head of Institutional Equity and Inclusion Christine Gilmore and Associate Director of Equity and Inclusion Gemma Halfi make up Emma Willard's School's Office of Equity and Inclusion

    The 21-Day Equity Challenge

    By Associate Director of Equity and Inclusion Gemma Halfi
    It’s 8 o’clock in the morning on a Sunday in late January, and an anticipated email pops into the inbox of every student and employee in the Emma Willard community—just as it has for the 12 days prior, and will continue to do for the 8 days following.
  • Head of Equity and Inclusion Christine Gilmore launches MLK Day activities at Emma Willard School

    A Vision of Equity: MLK Day 2023

    Each year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Emma Willard School community gathers for special programming to honor his legacy. This year’s theme, “A Vision of Equity,” explored both Dr. King’s dream of equity for all, as well as the equity work that has been done and is still to come in a variety of intersecting areas.
  • Emma Willard School PoCC/SDLC participants! (Not pictured from PoCC, Eloise Berard, Guagyu Hao, and Genesis Villar)

    Reunited in Our Purpose: PoCC 2022

    Earlier this month, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) welcomed over 7,000 visitors to San Antonio, Texas for the annual People of Color (PoCC) and Student Diversity Leadership Conferences (SDLC). 
View All News

Programs and Initiatives

List of 8 items.

  • Diversity Working Team

    The Diversity Working Team (DWT) is charged with advancing productive conversations about diversity at Emma Willard School and helping to ensure that ours is a community where difference is celebrated and inclusion is our guiding principle. The DWT works with matters related to the faculty and student body to heighten awareness of and attention to issues of diversity.

  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Hiring

    We are vigorously pursuing candidates for teaching and staff positions from diverse backgrounds, working with Nemnet and POCIS-NY, as well as tenaciously seeking out person-to-person connections.  It is vitally important that Emma’s faculty begin to reflect the rich diversity of our student body, as the celebration of this diversity is at the very center of Emma’s mission, and at the core of our identity as a school.

  • Empathy and Respect in Dorm Life

    Our residential programming is heavily focused on celebrating the beauty of our differences in all aspects of our identities; we have cultural celebrations within the residence halls and students of all religions are supported and encouraged to celebrate, observe, and share their respective holidays with the dorm communities.  The residential faculty strives to create communities in which all students feel valued, seen, and represented. The 9th grade residential experience provides opportunities for our youngest students, many of whom have never lived away from home, to gain a deeper understanding of differences and to navigate difficult conversations about community living that typically are rooted in misunderstandings based on differing cultural, religious, or racial identities and perspectives. Cluett House is a living and learning experiential dorm for 20 upper-class students each year that focuses on concepts of “positive world change” such as social justice, human rights, democracy and freedom, equity and diversity, activism and advocacy, and environmental sustainability.  Students are engaged in a programmatic curriculum that introduces many perspectives on these topics. Content is delivered through visiting guest speakers, workshops on nonviolent communication, heavy and often uncomfortable discussions about power, privilege, diversity, equity, and justice, and other media resources. Students leave the Cluett House residential experience with a deeper understanding of their place in the world and the avenues through which they may pursue making positive changes.

  • Diversity in Admissions

    At Emma, we know that a global perspective is the very bedrock of a transformative education. Each year, we attract applicants from over 20 states and five continents. Our partnerships with organizations that support high-achieving students from underrepresented backgrounds and independent schools in the United States ensures we connect with talented students from diverse racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds. With over $4.5 million in need-based financial aid, Emma stands proud in its commitment to the very best education for girls.
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  • Service Learning

    The Service Learning and Community Engagement program at Emma Willard School offers students a wide variety of opportunities for positive, purposeful connection to local and global communities. These connections help to strengthen students’ understanding about the context in which community needs have developed and continue to exist, while also challenging students to think critically about ways that diversity and identity play an important historic, social, and political role in the existence of those needs. Through classroom-based Service Learning, students are challenged to connect and apply academic content to the needs of the community. Through weekly off-campus opportunities, students have the flexibility to opt into a variety of group or individualized community engagement opportunities that help to build character, deepen compassion, and nurture a lifelong commitment to actively pursuing positive change within their communities.

  • Speaker Series

    Emma Willard School is fortunate to have a budget earmarked for bringing guest speakers to campus to share their worldviews, perspectives, and experiences with the students and adults in the community. In recent years, we have been focusing our resources on speakers who have used their talents and passions to create positive change in the world. The Speaker Series focuses on a relevant and timely annual theme that seeks to respond to current issues and expand each student’s understanding of the complexities of engaging in the world. In conjunction with this mission, the school has brought a diverse range of speakers who address themes such as race relations in boarding schools, gender equity, international student inclusion, and transgender rights.

  • Emma Town Halls

    In times of uncertainty and rapid change, EWS offers community forums to share accurate information about current events and to provide time for community members to process, discuss, and ask clarifying questions.  Led by the Dean of Students and Wellbeing and the Director of Student Life, we have conducted these open forums in response to global, national, or school issues. The goal of the Town Halls, which have addressed matters such as the #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter, gun violence in schools, moving forward after election results, and LGBTQ rights, is to share accurate information on quickly evolving news, as well as to ensure that students have a forum to practice how to honestly and respectfully share and listen to thoughts and opinions that are the same or different to their own.

  • Spiritual Life

    Inner Journey is a 10-week workshop that focuses on giving students the opportunity to explore their personal belief systems. It explores all aspects of belief including moral, social, spiritual, environmental, cultural, personal, developmental, and religious, although one need not be religious to participate.  Students reflect upon what they believe and why, and develop the patience and skills to have meaningful, reflective conversations with those who espouse different belief systems.
     
    FOCUS is Emma’s Fellowship of Christians in Universities and Schools (FOCUS).  This group is for anyone interested in learning about Christianity and exploring a life of faith.
     
    Muslim Student Group meets weekly to share a faith-based space and reinforce the bonds and sisterhood between our Muslim students.
Emma Willard School has adopted Gender Inclusion Guidelines for current and prospective students. You may read the guidelines here.

DEI Work Updates

Interest and Affinity Groups


At Emma Willard School, we are committed to fostering a strong sense of identity and belonging in each student.  We believe in the importance of interest groups, where students can share ideas and learn more about different cultures and identities.  In addition, we believe that affinity groups provide a crucial space for students to engage in conversation and provide support for each other around issues that are unique to their specific cultural and societal experiences.  We are currently working toward creating a welcoming physical space for affinity groups to grow and nurture their communities. Our goal is to have this space, as well as regular cross-cultural meetings of affinity groups, in place by 2020.

Interest Groups

The term interest group as defined by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) is used as a bringing together of people who want to learn about, share, and engage in a special interest, e.g. hobby, skill, topic, etc.  Interest groups are for individuals who want to gather to teach, learn, and share.  Membership can be fluid and changing.

List of 7 items.

  • ASU

    The Asian Student Union (ASU) works to raise awareness of stereotypes and injustices inflicted upon Asian communities by initiating conversations through weekly discussions, school activities, as well as community service to support Asians both in the United States and in Asia.
     

  • BLSU

    The Black and Latinx Student Union (BLSU) aims to bring issues faced by Black and Latinx community members to light through lively discussions and events, and by engaging with members of the Emma Willard School community.

  • Dor Va Dor

    Dor Va Dor aims to spread awareness of Jewish culture, through education and celebration.

  • F-Word

    The F-Word is Emma Willard School's feminist club, which aims to educate and engage the Emma community on the topic of intersectional feminism in order to contribute to positive world change through activism and social justice work.

  • MIASU

    The Multicultural International American Student Union (MIASU) promotes cultural awareness through games, discussions, presentations, campus dinners, and an annual expo.

  • Pride Alliance

    Pride Alliance offers a safe space for all people of the Emma community to engage in understanding and awareness of LGBTQ+ topics and diversity within all people.

  • Racial Justice Allyship Learning & Practice

    This group is not considered an affinity group by our school's definition, but still meets under a similar format. This group is for students with racial privilege looking to learn, practice, and strengthen their own work as antiracists in the national & global movement toward racial justice. While this group may typically draw students who identify as white, there may be many reasons why students of other racial identities may be interested in joining.

Affinity Groups

We recognize that the boarding school environment has traditionally been a place of great privilege, both economically and socially.  In keeping with our mission to foster the love of learning and the qualities of leadership in all of our students, we believe that it is important to provide space for camaraderie, processing, and fellowship for those students who have not traditionally been represented.  An affinity group is a group of people with common interests, background, and experience that come together to support each other. These groups will reinforce the understanding that underrepresented students unequivocally belong here at Emma Willard School, and that they are supported in their learning and their emotional growth.

List of 9 items.

  • Affinity for Diverse Abilities

  • Black Affinity Group

    This is a group for students who can speak from the “I” perspective of Black and/or African Heritage and can speak to this collective racial and ethnic identity with lived experience.

  • East Asian Affinity

    This is a group for students who can speak from the “I” perspective as being racially, ethnically, nationally, and/or culturally connected to countries in East Asia.

  • Latine Affinity Group

    This is a group for students who can speak from the “I” perspective of Latinx Heritage and can speak to this collective racial and ethnic identity with lived experience.

  • Middle Eastern Affinity Group

    This is a group for students who can speak from the “I” perspective as being racially, ethnically, nationally, and/or culturally connected to countries in the Middle East; including but not limited to countries such as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, Israel.

  • MultiMagic Affinity

    This is a group for students who can speak from the “I” perspective of a Multiracial Heritage and can speak to this collective racial and ethnic identity with lived experience.

  • Queer Affinity Group

    This is a group for students who identify as queer in regards to sexual orientation. This includes but is not limited to: gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, questioning.

  • South Asian Diaspora Affinity Group

    This is a group for students who can speak from the “I” perspective as being racially, ethnically, nationally, and/or culturally connected to countries in South Asia, including but not limited to countries such as India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Myanmar (Burma), Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan.

  • Transgender, Gender Non-conforming, Non-Binary Affinity Group

    This is a group for students who have the lived experience of being Transgender, Gender Non-conforming, and/or Non-binary, including those who are questioning their gender identity.

Equity and Inclusion Beyond Emma Willard


In addition to our on campus/in-house programming, we offer and encourage students, faculty and staff to attend other diversity/equity/inclusion workshops.  Additionally, students are provided a multitude of opportunities to study in other parts of the world in order to expand their world views and to embrace a truly global perspective.

Student Study Opportunities

List of 1 items.

  • AWAY Program

    Students have the opportunity to broaden their worldview by participating in one of our annual spring break “AWAY” travel programs.  The programs have many purposes: cultural and historical exploration, outdoor adventure and education, language immersion, or global engagement: an opportunity in which our students learn about the context in which injustices and inequities in the world exist and the good work that is already being done to address the needs of communities affected by those injustices and inequities.

On-Campus Professional Development

EMployees take part in on-campus professional development days featuring experts in diversity, equity, and inclusion. The following is a sampling of some of the speakers who have shared their wisdom with us. (Links lead to each person's own site.)

Conferences


Emma sends employees to various conferences each year including the National Association of Independent Schools’ People of Color Conference (PoCC), and students to the National Association of Independent Schools Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC), each year. PoCC equips educators at every level, from teachers to trustees, with knowledge, skills, and experiences to improve and enhance the interracial, interethnic, and intercultural climate in their schools, as well as the attending academic, social-emotional, and workplace performance outcomes for students and adults alike. SDLC facilitates student development of cross-cultural communication skills, design of effective strategies for social justice practice through dialogue and the arts, and learning of the foundations of allyship and networking principles. Some of the other conferences listed also foster important learning.

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