Diversity and Inclusion

The Department of Linguistics at Stony Brook University is committed to diversity, inclusion, and equity in our research, teaching, teacher education, service, and community outreach. The department is committed to an inclusive and welcoming environment for our faculty, students, staff, and visitors. Our commitment to diversity includes, but is not limited to, diversity in relation to age, culture, disability status, ethnicity, gender identity, language, nationality, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status and their intersections. We are committed to actively challenging the barriers and structures that support inequities in our field, in academia, and in society.

Course Offerings

Linguistic diversity is well-integrated into our curriculum. Not only do we offer courses that introduce students to world languages, e.g. LIN 230 Languages of the World, LIN 345 Writing Systems of the World, we also provide courses that bring attention to social issues in which language use is involved, e.g. LIN 200 Languages in the United States, LIN 250 Language and Cultures of Asian Americans, LIN 270 Language and Politics, LIN 307 Sociolinguistics.

Community Engagement

We are also committed to raise awareness towards linguistic diversity both on campus and on Long Island. Our department is a core member of theAlgonquian Language Revitalization Project.Two of our faculty members, Joy Janzen and Francisco Ordonez, were the facilitators of the MIC Workshops Series Spring 2021 Language & Social Justice Workshop 1: Language Ideology, and Teaching. Joy Janzen from our department was also the recipient of an interdisciplinary FAHSS award on “Language and Social Justice in Higher Education” in 2021.

Diversity Committee

We recognize that creating a truly just and equitable environment is a process, and in recognition of this, the department has created the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee, which seeks to monitor and improve department climate and address problems as they are identified, as well as provide educational opportunities related to such topics for the department.