Georgetown University

Overview

Georgetown seeks to provide an enriching learning environment that brings together students, faculty and staff with a wide range of interests and backgrounds. With students from more than 130 countries, the university works to provide students with a multicultural learning environment that will prepare them well for their lives after Georgetown.

Georgetown University's commitment to diversity is manifested in its student body -- which includes people of many different ethnic and religious backgrounds -- and in its recruitment of outstanding women and minorities to join its community of faculty and staff. Georgetown is an equal opportunity employer, and makes a concerted effort to achieve ethnic and gender diversity throughout its workforce.

In November 2006, the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education ranked Georgetown 11th out of the top 50 highest academically ranked universities in the nation for its percentage of black students.

Key Statistics

• Georgetown University has long been a leader among America's most selective institutions in promoting a diverse student body.  Nearly 30 percent of Georgetown's undergraduate population is from a multi-cultural background.  The breakdown is as follows: African American, 6.7 percent; Asian American, 8.7 percent; Foreign, 7.8 percent; Hispanic, 6.4 percent; and Native American, less than one percent.  
• In the fall of 2007, one-third of entering students claim fluency in more than one language and nearly 30 percent have lived abroad prior to enrolling at Georgetown.  
• The Georgetown University Law Center is one of the most diverse law schools in the country. Minority students make up almost 30 percent of all students at the Law Center.
• Georgetown is among the top 5 law schools in the number of African American attorneys graduates in the United States.
• It is the Main Campus's policy to offer need-blind admissions and to meet the full financial need of each undergraduate.
• Minority representation among Main Campus full-time professors rose from 12.7 percent in 1998 to 14.1 percent in 2007.
• The number of Main Campus women faculty at Georgetown rose 15.7 percent from 1986 to 2006. In 1986, women comprised 24 percent of the full-time faculty; in 2007, women comprised 39.7 percent of the full-time faculty on the Main Campus. Women currently comprise 42.3 percent of the University's faculty, administrators and senior staff.

University Initiatives

Georgetown has undertaken a number of efforts to promote diversity, dialogue and understanding on campus:

• In 2006, President DeGioia created the position of Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Equity and appointed Rosemary Kilkenny, Esq. to serve in this role.  Kilkenny works with senior administrators, faculty, staff and students to design, implement and monitor policies and programs that promote diversity, inclusivity and equity including education, training, counseling, outreach and retention efforts.  She also oversees the Office of Affirmative Action. 
• In Spring 2007, Georgetown initiated the Promoting a Respectful Campus Community program.  This online training program for faculty and staff is designed to build a shared understanding of what is appropriate and inappropriate workplace behavior and foster a welcoming, supportive environment. 
• New Student Orientation features a Pluralism in Action program which all first year students must attend.  This program is designed to help incoming students explore issues of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and national origin that arise when attending a diverse institution. Pluralism in Action helps students to feel comfortable in an environment that includes individuals different from themselves and to learn to celebrate those differences.
• The African American Advisory Board (AAAB), comprised of prominent African American alumni committed to the mission of the university, advises university leaders on a range of diversity issues and provides mentoring and career development opportunities for students and fellow African American alumni.
• Georgetown works to create an atmosphere of inclusion for all students. The university's Coordinator for LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Questioning) Community Resources works to address the complex nature of LGBTQ issues within the context of a Catholic university. The Coordinator provides a broad array of services and information to the campus community on LGBTQ related issues.  Programs include outreach, training and education within the campus community on LGBTQ issues, advising, and crisis intervention and referral.
• The Patrick F. Healy Fellows Program is a selective program designed to provide mentoring, career development, cultural enrichment and financial assistance to full-time students of color at Georgetown. The program is named for Georgetown's "second founder," a Jesuit priest who served as Georgetown president during the post-Civil War era. Healy was one of the first African Americans to become president of a major American university.
• The Diversity Action Council brings together Main Campus faculty, staff and students to address diversity issues. The council serves as a clearinghouse for diversity-related information and sponsors educational programming and outreach on these issues. 
• Georgetown's Women's Center provides all students, faculty and staff with information, services and programs that address matters of particular concern to women -- while exploring the connections among gender, race, economic status, sexual orientation, culture, religion, political views and other significant elements in relation to women's individuality and collective identity.
• The Center for Minority Educational Affairs (CMEA) promotes academic excellence on campus and offers a variety of services to support students of color. Staff advisors provide academic counseling, tutorial assistance, and advise students of financial aid deadlines and procedures. Upperclass students volunteer as peer advisors to incoming students of color. These advisors serve as a resource and guide for new students and encourage first-year students to take advantage of the resources of the CMEA.
• The Center for Student Programs sponsors Young Leaders in Education About Diversity (Y-LEAD), a program to facilitate discussion of diversity-related topics among incoming students.
• The MBNA Career Center sponsors a minority alumni panel each semester in which alumni talk to students about career options. The program helps students make contact with alumni who are already established in their careers.
• Many Georgetown students are actively involved in University-funded student organizations that promote multicultural understanding, including the Asian American Students Association, the Black Student Alliance, the Korean Students Association, the Muslim Students Association, the Jewish Students Association, and the NAACP.

Religious Pluralism

From its inception in 1789, Georgetown has welcomed students of -- in the words of founder Archbishop John Carroll -- "every religious profession."  This tradition is manifested today in vibrant interfaith activities and campus ministry services.  Assisted by Roman Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, Orthodox Christian, and Muslim chaplains, Director of Campus Ministry Rev. Timothy S. Godfrey, S.J., oversees Campus Ministry programs.

Interfaith opportunities are an integral part of campus life at Georgetown. In addition to specific faith services, the Office of Campus Ministry provides opportunities for interfaith prayer and dialogue throughout the academic year -- events include the  Hallelujah Shabbat, Interfaith Seder, a 9/11 interfaith memorial service, an interfaith art exhibit, and the Interfaith Baccalaureate Service.

Georgetown's religious pluralism is manifested in a variety of ways:

• The Interfaith Council is a student-led initiative that provides a forum for interreligious dialgoue among members of the student body.  The group creates programs to foster interreligious understanding and cooperation and provides a platform for resolving issues that may arise.  
• Georgetown works to convene external voices on interfaith issues. In 2004 and 2006, President John J. DeGioia hosted the "Building Bridges" seminar, bringing together Christian and Muslim scholars from around the world to discuss understanding and commonality between the two faiths.
• In 2006, Georgetown hosted the International Prayer for Peace --the first time in the event's 20-year history that it was held in the United States.  The annual event, the largest regularly held interreligious gathering in the world, is a venue for leaders and followers from various faiths to come together in dialogue and prayer. 
• Several of Georgetown's academic programs are reknowned for their scholarship and efforts to promote interreligious understanding. These include the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs; the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding; the Program for Jewish Civilization, and the Catholic Studies Program

University Events

Georgetown celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in its ongoing "Let Freedom Ring" initiative, a yearly series of academic, artistic and extracurricular activities for Georgetown students, faculty and staff, as well as the greater Washington community. Each year, the university recognizes an outstanding leader in civil rights and social justice with the John Thompson Legacy of a Dream Award. President Bush joined Georgetown President John J. DeGioia in presenting the 2006 award posthumously to Rosa Parks.

Georgetown's Pacem in Terris initiative commemorates the 40th anniversary of that papal encyclical, which calls on all peoples to begin an authentic dialogue in the quest for peace and human fulfillment. Distinguished scholars, religious leaders, and human activists from around the world have addressed the Georgetown community as part of this initiative, including Cherie Blair, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair; Peter Bell, president of global humanitarian organization CARE; Dr. William Schultz, executive director of Amnesty International; Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams; human rights activist Ka Hsaw Wa.

Georgetown inaugurated the Nostra Aetate lecture series in 2006 in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's document on interreligious dialogue, Nostra Aetate. The Council’s Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions revolutionized the Catholic Church's approach to the Jewish people and members of other religions.  Rev. Thomas F. Stransky, C.S.P., Rector Emeritus, Tantur Ecumenical Institute, Israel, delivered the inaugural lecture.  

Georgetown hosted His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales at a seminar on faith and social responsibility in 2005.  The seminar brought representatives from various faith traditions together to discuss and share best practices on faith based practical initiatives on employment, education and community regeneration.

Each year, Georgetown hosts I-Week, an international and intercultural university celebration. The week is organized by the International Student Association and the Office of International Programs, in collaboration with dozens of student groups, to plan a series of events celebrating art, music, film, cuisine and culture from around the world.

Pre-College Outreach: Increasing Access to College

Georgetown reaches out to students in the Washington, DC area and beyond long before college in order to help them develop  skills they can translate to make college a reality. 

• Since 1981, the Medical School has sponsored a National Institutes of Health research apprenticeship program for high school students in the District of Columbia. For eight weeks students conduct research activities in state-of-the-art biomedical laboratories under the supervision of experienced investigators.
• Georgetown's Kids2College program began in 1996 with a partnership providing mentoring to one sixth-grade class at Ron Brown Middle School.  It now serves as the model to expand middle school mentoring and college preparation to all DC Public schools by the end of 2007.
• The Schiff Scholars Institute for College Preparation is a six-year enrichment program that helps prepare junior high school students in the District of Columbia for college. Beginning in the seventh grade, Schiff Scholars take advantage of mentoring, academic counseling, Saturday and summer programs, community service projects, and outings with Georgetown students. 
• Georgetown's partnership with the Upward Bound program at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California has brought more than 150 minority students, predominantly Latinos, to summer enrichment programs at Georgetown since it began.   
  

Equal Opportunity

Georgetown University does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, disability, color, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies and programs.