Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan

Department of History

Indiana University - Bloomington

December 2021

The following two-year plan draws together History’s ongoing diversity initiatives to make them more visible and to make the faculty more accountable for them. Some of these efforts are longstanding; others have emerged from collective discussion, administrative and committee work, the department’s Diversity Statement, and the Diversity and Equity Committee’s recent report. The Diversity Statement lays out our understanding of diversity and equity. The Diversity Report offers key facts and perspectives about the department. Accordingly, this plan focuses on actions.


To tighten the connection to action, the plan centers responsibility with History’s administrators and committee chairs: the Chair, Associate Chair, Director of Graduate Studies, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Director of Honors, Chair of the Executive Committee, and Chair of the Diversity and Equity Committee. A substantial expansion of the department’s diversity plan of 2009, this one is not the last word. We know that some of these initiatives may not work as well as others and will need to be adjusted or reimagined. We know that ideas about “diversity” continue to change. As the department carries out this plan, the Diversity and Equity Committee continues to explore the nature of diversity and the state of the department.


All members of the department share responsibility for implementing the following plan. Emphasizing formal action here, we realize that change depends as well on informal action, on the ways in which all of us work to transform the climate and community of History. But we are confident that the actions laid out below will make the department a better place.


We divide the plan below into seven areas: Undergraduate Program; Graduate Program; Faculty; Public Space; Journals; Long-Term Commitment; and Assessment.