The Office of Diversity and Intercultural Life

Mission, Vision, and Goals

The Office of Diversity, located on the first floor of Solhberg Hall, seeks to maintain a climate that values diversity through programming, outreach, and support for all members. In addition, the Office of Diversity and Intercultural Life is committed to providing quality events to promote diversity beyond food, fashion, and festivals. The office meets this objective by focusing on the critical components of diversity through campus dialogue forums, academic presentations, and diversity-related workshops and seminars. These events complement and support the University’s educational mission.

The Collaboratory for Urban and Intercultural Learning

Our diversity center space, The Collaboratory for Urban and Intercultural Learning, also known as the Collaboratory, works with university areas to develop curricular and co-curricular opportunities to encourage greater integration of students’ in-class and out-of-class experiences. Our students are immersed in a space rich with expressions of faith, culture, and knowledge. We offer conferences, leadership forums, cultural events, and community outreach projects that enhance awareness and knowledge in diversity, culture, and communication.

Attention is given to various groups, including, but not limited to, the Africana, Latin-American, Asian-American, and Middle East-American communities. Our programs explore the contemporary urban context, with an effort to include questions regarding justice in the multicultural context and a distinct orientation toward the city of Chicago as a local laboratory. All of Chicago constitutes an exciting and engaging classroom with thousands of teachers and countless learning peers.