Realizing Our Promise: The Second JHU Roadmap on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is the next phase in the university’s key strategic framework for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion at Johns Hopkins.
Realizing Our Promise: The Second JHU Roadmap on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is based on a vision of Johns Hopkins as a pluralistic community that embraces the values and imperatives of diversity, equity, and inclusion as integral to our institutional missions and our commitment to freedom of inquiry and expression.
This Roadmap marks an important milestone in the journey we began six years ago. Its 24 goals in six areas are designed to strengthen and expand our DEI commitments, building on what has worked while digging deeper into areas where progress has been slow. Learning from recent efforts at the university and divisional levels, we are focused on the individual and shared commitment that it will take from all of us to realize our full promise as an institution, through the pursuit of our DEI aspirations and a culture of belonging and success for all members of our community.
This plan stems from the collaboration and contributions of hundreds of people across Johns Hopkins, including the Roadmap 2020 Task Force, composed of Johns Hopkins students, faculty, staff, and alumni, and members of the Baltimore community. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion published a draft of the plan in November 2021 and solicited feedback. This final version of the plan also reflects feedback from and the endorsement of the university’s board of trustees.
The [24] goals presented in this report tie together the lead recommendations of the task force, the feedback from our community and the insights of divisional leaders across the institution. Each section advances the successes of the last five years while responding to lessons learned in that time.
Johns Hopkins must ensure our institutional frameworks clearly reflect and support inclusive excellence. As part of this overarching aim, we are committed to articulating clearly and unequivocally the guiding principles that drive our work; to investigating and illuminating our past so it may shape our present and future actions; and to investing in and elevating leadership in DEI at all levels of our university.
From the moment they arrive at Johns Hopkins, it is essential that our staff feel welcomed and supported and can clearly see and access continuous pathways to professional and personal advancement—whether that means being supported as they pursue career advancement or educational opportunities or continue to thrive and excel in their current positions.
Our commitment to the flourishing of our students—intellectually, morally, socially—is central to the university’s mission. To discharge this responsibility, the university and its divisions must not only recruit a diverse community of students, at every level and in every division, but also build and foster an environment that welcomes, supports, and celebrates diverse people and ideas.
Johns Hopkins aims to be a place that outstanding diverse scholars seek out for their academic and professional home and then remain and reach their full potential in a welcoming, supportive and intellectually stimulating environment. To achieve this, the university and its divisions must not only do more to address gaps in our recruiting of a diverse faculty, particularly in areas where there has been little progress, but also to address persistent feedback regarding the impact of culture and climate on retention and advancement, and establish more firmly our commitment to inclusive excellence.
We aim to create a model of inclusive alumni engagement that fosters affinity between the university and alumni from underrepresented groups and that builds strong networks to create pathways for equitable outcomes for future Johns Hopkins students and graduates.
Johns Hopkins is truly and deeply of Baltimore. We understand our role as an anchor institution in our city, working alongside community partners to build healthy and vibrant spaces for growth and development. Our fundamental aim is to strategically pair resources and capabilities to build opportunity in distressed areas, address long-standing disparities, and partner to create sustainable solutions.