Oberlin College, a highly rated liberal arts educational institution in Ohio with a long history of educating African Americans, has announced that it is establishing a new Center on Race and Inequality.
Carmen Twillie Ambar, president of Oberlin College, said that the creation of the center was inspired by the “national moment of anguish fed by the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others. In response to those dire circumstances, we gathered our energies here at Oberlin and rededicated ourselves to a fulsome embrace of diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
While the infrastructure for the center must be developed and funded, it will include an executive director and other support. Student fellows will be a part of the center, engaging in funded research and internships that tackle the issues that contribute to racial inequity. Additionally, the college will encourage faculty affiliations to support research and collaborations across disciplines and divisions.
President Ambar added that “this new center will ensure that Oberlin is consistently contributing to the national conversation on race. The center will bring together academic opportunities, co-curricular experiences, career programming, mentorship, community building, and civic engagement.”
President Amber has led Oberlin College since 2017. Earlier, she spent nine years as president of Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Before being named president of Cedar Crest College, Amber was dean of Douglass College at Rutgers University in New Jersey. At that time, she was the youngest dean in university history.
A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, President Ambar is a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She earned a master’s degree in public affairs at Princeton University and a juris doctorate at Columbia Law School.
