Diversity & Inclusion

The Graduate School is committed to providing an inclusive and holistic approach to graduate scholar success.

Mentoring Word Cloud

Office of Inclusion and Student Engagement

The Graduate School Office of Inclusion and Student Engagement (OISE) is committed to supporting excellence within graduate education, and fostering environments where all scholars, but especially those from backgrounds historically excluded from and underrepresented in the academy, can find community, experience positive mentoring relationships, and establish a sense of belonging. Our collaborative programming provides graduate students and future faculty with academic, community, and professional development opportunities critical to their success at Cornell and beyond. OISE also facilitates positive systemic change initiatives to advance diversity, access, equity, and belonging in graduate education and the academy more broadly.


Office of Access and Recruitment

The Graduate School’s Office of Access and Recruitment is committed to promoting graduate study at Cornell. Our staff serves as the liaison to all prospective students, especially those from backgrounds historically excluded from and underrepresented in the academy. Please use the links below to learn more about what the Office of Access and Recruitment and our personnel have to offer you.


Signature Initiatives

OISE provides specific mentoring, professional, and academic development programs to help students achieve success at Cornell and in their future.


Bouchet Graduate Honor Society

Founded by Yale and Howard Universities in 2005, the Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement and promotes diversity and excellence in doctoral education and the professoriate. The society seeks to develop a network of preeminent scholars who exemplify academic and personal excellence, foster environments of support and serve as examples of CLASS: Character, Leadership, Advocacy, Scholarship, and Service. 


Graduate Diversity & Inclusion Awards

Annual awards presented to graduate and professional degree students, faculty, staff, and community members who have demonstrated a strong commitment towards advancing efforts around diversity, inclusion, outreach, and graduate student engagement.


Funding and Resources

Cornell University provides access to a wide range of internal and external resources to help students reach their academic, professional, and personal goals.


Faculty Resources

The Graduate School Office of Inclusion and Student Engagement and our partners, support faculty engagement in discussions and workshops on equity-based holistic admissions, diversity recruitment, and mentoring practices with the purpose of establishing more equitable and inclusive research and learning environments. The Graduate School Office of Graduate Student Life supports faculty engagement in discussions related to maintaining a healthy student life, including mental health and stress management, sense of community, life-academic balance, and support for students’ personal development. Partners throughout the university also provide programming and resources for faculty and others supporting the graduate community.


Student Organizations

There are a number of student organizations represented on the Graduate and Professional Student Diversity Council that work collaboratively with the Graduate School and other campus partners on initiatives to advance a sense of community, professional excellence, and a climate of inclusion for all graduate and professional students, but especially for those from backgrounds historically excluded from and underrepresented in the academy. Find more information on the over 1,000 student organizations found at Cornell.


Belonging at Cornell

Cornell’s transformative diversity and inclusion framework, Belonging at Cornell, provides a broad institutional structure for asserting the centrality of diversity and inclusion to the university’s values and excellence. Cornell’s diversity and inclusion framework is based on the recognition that education, research, knowledge production, and operational and academic pursuits are enhanced through full and reciprocal engagement among diverse perspectives, life experiences, and modes of knowledge creation and interpretation.


Reporting Bias

Reporting, understanding, and preventing unacceptable behaviors such as bias, sexual misconduct, and hazing are essential to maintaining our caring community. Cornell offers various avenues for reporting these incidents as well as receiving confidential care and support if you need it.


Land Acknowledgement

The Graduate School Office of Inclusion & Student Engagement acknowledges that Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ are members of the Hodinǫ̱hsǫ́:nih Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ people, past and present, to these lands and waters.

 This land acknowledgment has been reviewed and approved by the traditional Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ leadership.

We encourage all who engage with the Graduate School and Cornell University to learn more about the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ, their history, and people, and to take meaningful action to support Indigenous scholars and their communities. We also encourage all to learn more about the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program‘s Project and Blog on Cornell’s Relationship to Indigenous Dispossession


Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Access, & Belonging

The Graduate School retains a steadfast commitment to actively fostering an inclusive environment that engenders the full and safe participation of all members of our graduate and professional student community and demonstrates how their diverse perspectives, identities, ways of knowing, and lived experiences are recognized, welcomed, and valued. As part of this commitment, we continue to expand initiatives to increase diversity and access, enhance mentoring experiences, and actively address inequities so all members of our community have opportunities to feel affirmed, establish a sense of belonging, and thrive academically, personally, and professionally.