Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging

Diversity tableBy history, intention, and design, the Yale Divinity School community embraces a wide range of Christian traditions. Committed to serving church and world, it also welcomes people of various religious and nonreligious traditions, drawing wide the circle to include myriad perspectives.

Seeking to foster the knowledge and love of God through critical engagement with the traditions of the Christian churches, the Divinity School upholds the value of broad inclusivity and diversity in our academic, worship, and communal life.

Action & Impact: Read stories

We celebrate the fullness of race and color; denominational, political, theological, and cultural difference; the range of expressions of sexual and gender identity; and the varied voices that come with age, life experience, national and community service, and socioeconomic status.

In ecumenical conversation and in the space created that crosses traditionally entrenched positions, profound educational value is gained and diverse perspectives are presented.

To this end, we foster inclusivity and diversity through our academic, social, and spiritual practices. At the core of our intention is the deliberate encouragement of conversation across the lines of difference; attention to offering access to all aspects of our common life; consistent sensitivity to the uniqueness of each person’s background; and particular attentiveness to our words in speech, writing, prayer, and praise.

We value the worth and dignity of every member of the Divinity School community, as we build an environment where inclusivity and diversity are central and consistently affirmed.

Action & Impact

September 8, 2022
Editor’s Note: During the year of our Bicentennial, YDS hopes to publish alumni/ae stories from their time at YDS, such as this piece by Robert Tiller. If you would...
August 31, 2022
New students, new faculty and staff members, and the beginning of Yale Divinity School’s new century—with a keynote address by Yale President Peter Salovey to mark the moment...
August 31, 2022
August 31, 2022   YDS Dean Greg Sterling made the following announcement today to the YDS community.   ——   Dear Colleagues,   As I announced at our Opening...
August 5, 2022
Yale Divinity School is the site of a new project aimed at accelerating innovation in young adult ministry and connecting congregations with emerging adults who are spiritual...
July 26, 2022
By Leah Silvieus ’21 M.A.R. Jason Craige Harris ’12 M.A.R. and Mercy Herrera ’13 M.A.R. met at YDS through a mutual friend. When she asked him out, he turned her down on...
June 14, 2022
June 14, 2022 Dean Greg Sterling today sent the following announcement to the YDS community. —— Congratulations are in order for a number of YDS faculty members....
June 10, 2022
By Kimberly Winston June 10, 2022 One day in June 2015, A. Kazimir Brown ’19 M.Div. went to work as usual as a budget analyst for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. She...
May 25, 2022
By Timothy Cahill ’16 M.A.R. On a late September Sunday two years ago, some 45 members of the United Church of Christ gathered at the outdoor sanctuary of the Cathedral of...
May 22, 2022
A sampling of graduates reflect on their YDS experience and look ahead to what’s next in their lives and careers. Paul Agyei Essah ‘22 M.A.R. (Hebrew Bible) When I received...
May 2, 2022
By Leah Silvieus ’21 M.A.R. E. David de Leon ’21 M.Div., is co-author with Sabrina S. Chan, Linson Daniel, and La Thao of a forthcoming book, Learning Our Names: Asian...
April 11, 2022
By Leah Silvieus ’21 M.A.R. Lindsay Lunnum ’08 M.Div. graduated from Yale Divinity School just a few months after giving birth to her son, Seamus. Her experience as a...
April 4, 2022
In the latest episode of the Divinity School “Quadcast,” YDS Research Scholar and Lecturer Abdul-Rehman Malik discusses Ramadan, Islamophobia, and the Islamic roots of coffee...
March 10, 2022
By Kim A. Lawton In 2018, McKenzie Flowers Fergus ’18 M.Div. was working in the Yale Medical School Library when she “stumbled upon” an article describing the suffering of...
March 7, 2022
A pair of new scholarships honor two towering figures in the history of women at Yale Divinity School—Rena Karefa-Smart ’45 B.D., the first Black woman to graduate from YDS,...
February 23, 2022
Kenneth Minkema is Executive Editor of The Works of Jonathan Edwards and Director of the Jonathan Edwards Center at YDS. The Center supports inquiry into the life, writings,...
February 11, 2022
By Leah Silvieus ’21 M.A.R. This winter, mother and son Jean Wood ’64 M.A.R. and Chris Wood ’90 B.A. pledged $250,000 to support 10 new annual social justice scholarships at...
February 4, 2022
In the latest episode of the YDS “Quadcast,” distinguished Palestinian theologian Mitri Raheb discusses his scholarship on Christianity in the Holy Land and debunks Western...
January 27, 2022
By Kimberly Winston Ten years ago, Pauline Samuel ’17 M.Div. was a parish administrator at her childhood church, St. Philip’s Episcopal/Anglican Church in Brooklyn, when its...
January 15, 2022
Dean Greg Sterling has issued an unprecedented acknowledgment of Yale Divinity School’s historical complicity in slavery and racism and has announced a series of actions to...
December 21, 2021
By Lauren Yanks ‘19 M.Div. When he graduated from YDS and returned to his hometown in the Chicago area, Allen Reynolds ’15 M.Div. figured he would go into young adult...

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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging