Message from Dean Edward A. Snyder

Diversity is fundamental to Yale SOM’s mission to educate leaders for business and society. Our community is enriched by a diversity of backgrounds and outlooks and this diverse, inclusive environment helps our graduates contribute durable value in a wide range of settings and contexts.

Fostering such diversity is necessary for us to reach our aspirations as a school, and it requires both effort and institutional commitment.

As one part of this effort, we have just created a student-led Diversity Advisory Group. The purpose of the group is to represent and lead the student body in engaging Yale SOM on diversity issues, so that Yale SOM can fulfill its goals:

• To be leaders and innovators in diversity.
• To create and nurture a culture where individuals listen and question each other openly, especially around difficult topics in diversity.
• To create the necessary foundation for recruiting under-represented minorities.

This group is composed of 21 students representing relevant student clubs, student government, and the four cohorts, in addition to three faculty advisors and the associate director of admissions. The group will regularly engage with me and my senior staff team, partnering with us on diversity initiatives, as well as working independently to promote diversity and enhance the school’s inclusive environment.

Yale SOM will continue to use the broad definition of diversity outlined in the Yale SOM Vision Statement on Diversity; however the Diversity Advisory Group will concentrate on the areas that historically have posed the greatest challenges: race/ethnicity (especially U.S. under-represented minorities), gender, and sexual orientation.

I look forward to engaging the entire community as we work together to continue expanding the diversity of Yale SOM.



Edward A. Snyder
Dean & William S. Beinecke Professor of Economics and Management
Yale School of Management