From Ed Bertschinger, MIT ICEO, February 12, 2015
In 2013 I was appointed the first institute community and equity officer (ICEO) at MIT, a position supporting President Reif’s goals of enhancing the experience of MIT community members and helping them to leverage the power of diversity. During the past 18 months I have heard from hundreds of community members—students, staff, postdocs, faculty, alumni, retirees, family members, and others—who embrace this call and seek to evolve or shift the culture so as to more effectively advance a respectful and caring community that is far more than the sum of its parts. The people of MIT strongly desire the fulfillment of the concluding sentence of the MIT mission statement, “We seek to develop in each member of the MIT community the ability and passion to work wisely, creatively, and effectively for the betterment of humankind.”
Drawing on the strength and energy of our extraordinary diversity of experiences and backgrounds, MIT is now publishing this report. You are invited to read and comment on the report, which can be found at http://iceoreport.mit.edu/.
You can find out more about the ICEO at http://diversity.mit.edu.