The Department of Communication at Cornell University has a three-part mission:
- to enhance understanding of communication processes, institutions, systems, and practices;
- to inform and educate a wide range of constituencies; and
- to foster communication competencies.
Achieving this mission requires the full participation of a diverse community of students, faculty, and staff who have had a variety of experiences that can contribute to insights into how our social world operates. The Department can sustain excellence in research only if we have access to all critical lenses and perspectives on the questions that are important to ask, and on the methods that should be employed to examine those questions. The Department can sustain excellence in teaching only if we incorporate the perspectives of those from across our global community, as well as the marginalized communities that are often overlooked within the United States.
Fostering a diverse community is more than simple numerical representation. To live up to Cornell’s founding principle as a place where “any person can find instruction in any study,” the Communication Department makes persistent and proactive efforts to ensure that all are welcomed and treated with respect so that they truly can instruct, or find instruction. The goal is to create a culture that encourages and emboldens every member of the community to engage, particularly those who have historically been on the margins of the society.
Achieving these goals requires consistent self-examination to assess the progress, strategic planning to set targets for improvement, and most importantly, strategic actions to work toward the Department’s goals. Below is a partial list of current initiatives to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in our community.
Current Initiatives
Syllabus Statement
As people who study communication, we take seriously the practices of dialogical communication that include welcoming, listening to, and understanding all voices and perspectives, respecting and valuing differences of opinion and experience, and encouraging exploration of new and old ways of thinking--a process that lies at the heart of intellectual inquiry. Theory and practice work dialectically, so together we take responsibility to ensure communication that respects diversity, strives for equity, and is inclusive. Please bring forward any situations where voices are not being heard.