About the speaker:

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  John Chisholm served on the MIT Corporation (board of trustees) from 2015-2021 and as president and chair of the MIT Alumni Association from 2015-2016. He became concerned that diversity and inclusion at MIT focused narrowly on two dimensions: race and gender. In part due to this narrow focus, rural, lower-income, and center-right students, who enjoyed no advocacy or visibility, had become the most underrepresented group on campus. In response, Chisholm proposed and developed a broader, holistic approach to diversity, including not just physical/identity attributes but also cognitive/intellectual and myriad related attributes to encompass the entire individual. Chisholm has shared his findings and recommendations with the MIT Corporation, with MIT leadership, and with university leaders across the country.  In the words of one MIT lifetime trustee, “John has had a profound impact on how the Institute thinks about diversity.”