We are committed to maintaining a supportive and inclusive academic community at the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, where students from diverse backgrounds and experiences can thrive and achieve their personal and professional goals. We look forward to meeting with you.
Two Graduate School deans and several graduate student fellows are here for you. We work with departments and programs, faculty, staff, current students, and prospective students to answer questions and provide support and programming. We are available to listen sympathetically to your concerns, give practical advice, and advocate for you as you transition through the various stages of your degree program. Prospective students can schedule a conversation with one of our fellows to discuss what graduate student life is really like here.
Transitions is an optional, year-long program for first-year graduate students, sponsored by the Office for Graduate Student Development and Diversity, to provide incoming students with the skills, connections, and community that will let them flourish at Yale.
Are you a current graduate student who wants to help create programming and provide support to your peers? If so, come join us! We invite you to apply as an Office for Graduate Student Development and Diversity (OGSDD) Fellow.
The annual Yale Bouchet Conference on Diversity and Graduate Education is a dynamic academic conference, drawing New Haven community residents, scholars, administrators, and graduate and undergraduate students from across the nation.
Are you a recent college graduate who is highly motivated to pursue a research career? See if one of our post-baccalaureate programs is right for you.
Are you a current undergraduate student considering pursuing a PhD? Each summer, the Yale Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program brings about 15 qualified undergraduates to Yale for eight weeks to explore what a PhD could offer them.
As part of the Graduate School's efforts to recruit an exceptional pool of diverse applicants, the Office for Graduate Student Development and Diversity (OGSDD) hosts annual in-person and virtual Preview Days.
Yale has long thrived on diversity. Yale was not only the first university in North America to award PhD degrees (in 1861), but also the first in North America to award a PhD to a self-identified African American, Edward Alexander Bouchet, in the field of Physics in 1876. Women were admitted as candidates for the doctorate in 1892, the year when Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences was formally established. In 1894, the first cohort of seven women earned the PhD at Yale.
The Office for Graduate Student Development and Diversity (OGSDD), formerly known as the Office for Diversity and Equal Opportunity, was established in September 2000. We work collaboratively and proactively with departments and programs to recruit and support the needs of diverse students as they pursue graduate study at Yale. OGSDD also works collaboratively with the McDougal Center offices.
Michelle Nearon
Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Student Development and Diversity
Ksenia Sidorenko
Assistant Dean for Diversity