Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Since 2001, the Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center (MEMEAC) at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, has been promoting the study of the Middle East and migrants from the region. Bringing together a critical mass of more than eighty affiliated faculty members from throughout the CUNY system, MEMEAC serves as a magnet for doctoral students at the GC who focus on the Middle East and North Africa from different disciplinary perspectives and a hub for our own Master’s students. With growing interest in the Middle East, the Center launched a Master’s Program in Middle Eastern Studies in 2008 that draws students from across the country and around the world. MEMEAC regularly sponsors book conversations, manuscript reviews, works-in-progress seminars, dissertation writing groups, and workshops. The Center functions as a resource for both the CUNY community and the public at large.

The Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS), located at the City University of New York, Graduate Center, was founded in 1991 and is the first university-based research center in the United States dedicated to the study of historical, cultural, and political issues of vital concern to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals and communities.

The mission of the Caribbean Research Center (CRC) is to provide a multidisciplinary understanding of the New York environment from the perspective of the diverse social, cultural, and economic characteristics of the Caribbean-American community, and analysis of the immigrant and migrant experiences of this community in the context of the wider Caribbean Diasporas in the Americas and Europe. The CRC is committed to doing this through its research, programs, and publications. It offers scholarly insight into the challenges and successes of Caribbean immigrants and migrants, and their impact on the Diaspora environments in which they live and work, as well as the Caribbean basin as a whole. The Center will work in partnership with organizations in the United States, the Caribbean, and other parts of the world, on issues which fall within the scope of the Center’s mission.

The Asian American / Asian Research Institute (AAARI) was established on November 19, 2001, by The City University of New York (CUNY) Board of Trustees, in a resolution introduced by Chancellor Matthew Goldstein. The Institute is a university-wide scholarly research and resource center that focuses on policies and issues that affect Asians and Asian Americans. It covers four areas: Asian American Studies; East Asian Studies; South Asian Studies; and Trade & Technology Studies.

The Sandra Kahn Wasserman Jewish Studies Center (WJSC) in the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences at Baruch College reflects the legacy and heritage of the college, its tradition of educating New York City immigrants, its diverse population, and its special relationship to and place within Manhattan.

The Center for Jewish Studies is committed to fostering research and special projects in the many disciplines comprising Jewish Studies. It aims to serve the numerous faculty scholars across The Graduate Center and entire CUNY system who are in the field of Jewish Studies or working in areas related to Jewish Studies by providing opportunities for communication, gatherings, and cooperative programs and projects. The Center for Jewish Studies sponsors publications, public lectures, teacher training seminars, research and oral history projects that explore a wide range of historical and contemporary Jewish issues. From time to time, the Center for Jewish Studies also hosts scholarly gatherings that are conducted in cooperation with national and international cultural and academic institutions.

The Institute serves as a clearinghouse for research opportunities in Irish-American Studies for students, staff, and faculty on all of the campuses of the City University of New York.