Ad Hoc Committee on Arts, Culture, and DEI

Activating the Arts and Humanities

President Reif’s letter to the MIT Community on July 1, 2020 outlined the steps that MIT will take to address systemic problems regarding racial equity at the Institute. As part of the commitment to confront our history, challenge common assumptions, and incorporate previously marginalized voices, he called for an ad hoc committee to activate the arts and humanities in this effort. Provost Martin Schmidt has appointed John Dozier, Institute Community Equity Officer, and Philip S. Khoury, Associate Provost and Ford International Professor of History, to co-chair this committee.

Letter to the MIT Community Addressing Systemic Racism (July 1, 2020)
Institute Commitments

Photo of dancers on stage posing at the end of a performance, each holding large, unfoldable letters that spell out M I T

Members of the MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble perform during It Must Be Now! (IMBN!). Photographer: Caroline Alden.

The Charge, Our Next Steps

The arts are an essential part of the Institute’s culture, and they have great potential to help move it toward a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive future.

The committee will examine the campus as an artistic expression of MIT’s values and learning environment and recommend ways to deepen our understanding of the Institute’s history and project a more equitable vision for the future through digital, performing, physical, and visual experiences. In addition, the committee will propose nimble and flexible programs to recruit artists of color and broaden the diversity of artistic talent showcased at MIT. Gathering information on current and future MIT educational and research activities in the arts, culture, and DEI domain are an important part of this effort, as well as identifying resources to support them.

Recommend an approach

**John Dozier**
Institute Community and Equity Officer, Office of the Provost (co-chair)

**Philip S. Khoury**
Associate Provost and Ford International Professor of History (co-chair)

**Azra Aksamija**
’11 PhD, Associate Professor, Program in Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT)

**Markus J. Buehler**
McAfee Professor of Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering

**Fontini Christia**
Professor, Political Science

**Madhurima Das**
’18, graduate student, Mechanical Engineering

**Michel Anne-Frederic DeGraff**
Professor, Linguistics

**Martha Eddison**
Special Assistant and Senior Communications Strategist to the President

**Peter Godart**
’15 ’18 M.S., PhD candidate, Mechanical Engineering

**Annika Gomez**
PhD candidate, Microbiology

**Kelvin Green II**
’22, Physics and Literature, UA Officer on Diversity

**Paul Ha**
Director, List Visual Arts Center

**John Harbison**
Institute Professor, Music and Theater Arts

**Jade Ishii**
’22, Civil and Environmental Engineering

**Caroline A. Jones**
Professor of the History of Art and Associate Dean, School of Architecture and Planning

**Katherine Higgins**
Senior Producer, Center for Art, Science & Technology

**Leila W. Kinney**
Executive Director of Arts Initiatives and MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology

**William Lockett**
Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology

**Tod Machover**
Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Music and Media and Head, Media Arts and Sciences

**Trinity Manuelito**
’23, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

**John Ochsendorf**
Class of 1942 Professor, Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering

**Eto Otitigbe**
’99, Assistant Professor of Sculpture, Brooklyn College

**Daniela Rus**
Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL)

**Alicia Carina Sanchez**
Executive Director, Foundation Relations

**Charles Shadle**
Senior Lecturer, Music and Theater Arts

**Alex K. Shalek**
Associate Professor, Chemistry; Institute for Medical Engineering and Science

**Craig Steven Wilder**
Barton L. Weller Professor of History

Ad Hoc Committee on Arts, Culture, and DEI

Activating the Arts and Humanities

The Charge, Our Next Steps

Committee Members