Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Initiatives

Promoting Inclusive Excellence

The university and our community as a whole have answered the call to move beyond words and take action to accelerate positive change at William & Mary. Current initiatives include:

• The Lemon Project
• Hearth: Memorial to the Enslaved
• Boswell Initiative
• Legacy Garden
• National Pan-Hellenic Council Garden
• Veteran’s Initiatives
• Posse Scholars Program
• Bray School/Digges House Project
• First-Generation Students
• Neurodiversity
• Women’s Initiatives
• Center for Student Diversity
• Identity-based Alumni Engagement
• WMSURE
• Center for Racial & Social Justice

Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Matter

We work collectively to ensure that William & Mary is a place where all faculty, students, staff and alumni feel supported and their different perspectives are affirmed. Through diversity, inclusion & belonging initiatives, we can

• Enhance the student experience — Diversity fuels innovation and brings a broad range of perspectives together to solve challenging problems and promote resiliency for all
• Foster compassion & positive connections — By providing an environment that embraces and respects  individual strengths and teaches empathy and collaboration, all can flourish
• Deepen understanding & communication — Encouraging civil discourse around difficult topics and  contrasting viewpoints is key to educating students who have an authentic appreciation for differences
• Strengthen W&M’s academic excellence — As a leading university, we are called to educate the next generation of change agents. W&M’s complex history and academic excellence position it well to lead Virginia and the nation in addressing social injustices

Your Support Makes a Difference

Your gift will provide critical, immediate support for key diversity, inclusion & belonging initiatives and programs. Current funding priorities across the university fall into four categories:

Student Diversity & Support: to enhance the success of students both in and out of the classroom and to create a climate on campus that is inclusive and welcoming to all students. Center for Student Diversity (1946)

Lemon Project: to contribute to and encourage scholarship on the more than 300-year relationship between African Americans and W&M. Lemon Project Fund (3527)

Faculty/Research Support (including lecture series): to fund training, outreach, programs and research that work toward a more inclusive university community. Diversity & Inclusion Fund (3980)

Affinity Inclusion & Engagement: to provide support and education about a wide array of topics between individuals of diverse backgrounds and identities to build understanding, civility and respect across differences.

• Hulon Willis Association (African American) (2101)
• LatinX (4841)
• LGBTQ+ Crim Dell Association (4840)
• Asian, Pacific Islander and Middle Eastern (4842)
• Alumnae Initiatives Endowment (4156)
• Student Veteran Engagement Fund (4700)
• Neurodiversity (3854)
• Office of Student Accessibility Services (1916)

Giving Opportunities

• Asian Pacific Islander Middle Eastern (APIM) Operating Fund for Alumni Engagement
  Supports the programming of the Asian-Pacific Islander-Middle Eastern (APIM) Alumni Association, including alumni events and regional programming. 
• Boswell Initiative
  Supports teaching and scholarship on dimensions of LGBT life, both within the U.S. and globally. Learn more about this initiative.
• Camp Launch
  Supports the Center for Gifted Education’s Camp Launch program in the School of Education.
• Carroll F. S. Hardy Scholarship Endowment *
  Honors the late Dr. Carroll F.S. Hardy, an esteemed administrator who impacted the lives of multiple generations of William & Mary students and students from across the country from under-represented backgrounds.
• Center for Student Diversity
  Supports the Center for Student Diversity at William & Mary.
• Diversity and Inclusion Fund
  Supports the most pressing needs of the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, or its successor program, at William & Mary.
• Dr. Betty Shabazz Lecture Endowment *
  Honors the late Dr. Betty Shabazz and supports an annual lecture in multicultural affairs.
• EY Diversity and Inclusiveness Fund
  Supports and promotes diversity and inclusiveness learning at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business.
• Hulon L. Willis, Sr. Memorial Scholarship Endowment *
  Recognizes students who have made significant contributions to the multicultural community at William & Mary.
• Hulon Willis Association Operating Account 
  Supports programs, events, and alumni engagement initiatives of the Hulon Willis Association, William & Mary’s African-American alumni affinity group.
• Jorge Alberto Urcuyo Scholarship
  Provides need-based scholarship support to students who are residents in the U.S. but whose immigration status or classification makes them ineligible to receive federal student aid, with a preference for those who have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
• LatinX Operating Fund for Alumni Engagement
  Supports the programming of the Latinx Alumni Association (Latino/a), including alumni events and regional programming. 
• Legacy Garden
  Honors the first three African-American residential students at William & Mary and those that came before them. Learn more about this project.
• Lemon Project Memorial to African Americans Enslaved by William & Mary
  Provides support for a project to memorialize the enslaved people who labored on the campus of William & Mary.
• LGBTQ+ Operating Fund for Alumni Engagement
  Supports the programming of the Crim Dell Association: William & Mary LGBTQ+ Alumni, including alumni events and regional programming. 
• Multicultural Affairs Endowment *
  Supports diversity programming at William & Mary.
• National Pan-Hellenic Council Garden
  To provide support for costs associated with the design of a plot at William & Mary to recognize historically African-American fraternities and sororities. Learn more about the garden.
• Neurodiversity Initiative
  Provides programmatic support for the Neurodiversity Initiative.
• Richard Cornish Library Endowment *
  Supports the purchase of materials to enrich the collections of the Earl Gregg Swem Library in literature and materials by and about gays and lesbians.
• Stuart Calvin, Frances Gloria, and Julie E. Williams Fund for Diversity Programming *
  Supports diversity programming at William & Mary.
• W&M GALA Oral History Project
  Supports the documentation of stories of the lives of W&M gay and lesbian alumni, faculty, staff and students.
• William & Mary Scholar Undergraduate Research Experience (WMSURE)
  Provides operational and programmatic support for the participants in the WMSURE program.

* - Indicates an endowed fund.

To build upon existing efforts, the university aspires to create the following:

• An endowed lecture series.
• An innovation fund.
• Faculty fellowships
• Staff diversity initiatives