Diversity Profile
As the city of Chicago’s second-largest private employer, and the largest on the South Side, the University draws from and contributes to the strength and diversity of the surrounding metropolis.
We proudly hire people of diverse viewpoints, backgrounds, races, abilities, gender, sexual orientation, military status, and more. This staff enriches the University community with their unique perspectives and wide-ranging skills and expertise.
Since 1892, the University of Chicago has been committed to open, rigorous, and intense inquiry with a shared understanding that this is the defining feature of the University. Located in a world-class metropolis, the University of Chicago is uniquely positioned to contribute to, and draw from, the strength and diversity of the dynamic city, the United States, and the world. Our scholarly community is composed of a rich mix of individuals who, through their own distinctive viewpoints, contribute to the intellectually challenging culture of the University. Faculty and students are pioneers, discoverers, teachers, scholars, and change agents. Those who work at the University of Chicago in non-academic occupations and professions play a large role in shaping the University’s image and in fulfilling its mission. Our most important contributions to discovery, education, and society rest on the power of our ideas and the openness of our environment to the development and testing of these ideas. We celebrate our tradition of inclusion and recognize that our success as an institution depends on its ongoing renewal.
Programming:
Campus Conversations - A speaker series put on by the Diversity Leadership Council exclusively for University and Medical Center staff. The series features University leaders in conversation about University matters and the important role diversity and inclusion play, strengthening staff’s ability to make continued, positive contributions to the campus environment.
Resources for Hiring Managers: 
Recruiting a Diverse and Excellent Staff - An HR Services website that lists resources for University hiring managers to locate applicant pools with diverse constituents.
Professional Organizations for Women and Minorities - An index of organizations dedicated to supporting professionals. Some of these allow job postings on their websites and in publications.
Resources in Academics:
University of Chicago scholarship is built on a rich history of diversity. Divergent voices engage to produce new ideas. Leaders across disciplines work together to address longstanding issues in groundbreaking ways. Scholars from different cultures and ideologies meet in classrooms, on campus, and in the field, offering new lenses through which to view the world.
A wide array of programs, opportunities, and resources support the diversity of our students and faculty and their curricular and research interests. Explore this section to find degree options, research activities, scholarships, internships, and more.
Business Diversity: 
Fostering and maintaining relationships with minority- and women-owned businesses ensures that the University and Medical Center have access to the most creative and innovative talent in support of the institution’s strategic goals. Learn more here.
Students at the University of Chicago form a diverse community that values the contributions of all its members. The University is home to hundreds of thriving student groups that support those of different cultural heritages, nationalities, sexual orientations, gender identities, religions, spiritualties, and abilities.
In our undergraduate community, more than one-third identify as students of color and nearly one-tenth come to the University from homes outside the United States. Of our students in graduate and professional schools, one-fifth are students of color and one-fourth are international. These students find friendship and support through such campus resources as the Office of Multicultural Affairs, in student groups, and in their studies at the University.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) students and friends have long come together in groups throughout the University. Some groups are for students in specific schools, like the School of Social Service Administration’s OUTreach, and others span the full University, like Queers & Associates, which is the largest LGBTQ organization on campus. More recent initiatives have expanded support for LGBTQ students, including the Office of LGBTQ Student Life and the gender-neutral Open Housing Policy.
Resources at the University support all students in celebrating their unique identities and promote a community that proudly benefits from the inclusion of every varying perspective.
Student organizations play a significant role in the life of students at the University. Among many student groups on campus, there are over 350 Registered Student Organizations through the Office of the Reynolds Club and Student Activities at the University of Chicago, including approximately 15 LGBTQ student organizations, 70 cultural student organizations, and 50 spiritual groups for students across many different faiths. Undergraduate, graduate, and professional students from across the University form and run these organizations.
Students can get involved more directly with the University’s diversity-related offices by joining their advisory boards. The Offices of International Affairs, LGBTQ Student Life, and Multicultural Student Affairs provide opportunities for students from across the institution to serve on their boards. These offices work very closely with student organizations to coordinate some of the University’s biggest events.
These are just a sampling of the many events celebrating diversity on campus, most of which are planned in part or entirely by student groups.
Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is essential to our mission as a model urban university. As we draw from the strength and diversity of our surrounding city, we give back through programs in health, education, the arts, employment, and more.
Civic Engagement: 
Through partnership with our neighbors, the University works to enhance the quality of life and economic development of the South Side, city, and globe. We devote the research and creative thinking of some of the nation’s top scholars along with financial investment to supporting numerous facets of public life.
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Community Programs:
The University sponsors a broad array of programs to enhance the lives of our community, some of which are highlighted below. You can also search our full Community Programs Directory.
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Health and Wellness:
A major health care provider on Chicago’s South Side, the University of Chicago Medical Center sees firsthand the challenges that affect this diverse region. The Urban Health Initiative is our long-term commitment—in partnership with civic leaders, community organizations, health care providers, and residents—to strategically improve health and access to quality care on the South Side of Chicago through patient care, community-based research, and medical education.
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Education:
Our commitment to providing empowering education extends beyond our own college and graduate students to include public prekindergarten students through retirees. A major initiative is improving public schools in Chicago and other urban settings, spearheaded by the research of our Urban Education Institute and the four charter school campuses it operates. The University also trains future public school teachers, mentors high schoolers to help them succeed in college, and provides a multitude of learning opportunities for community members.
Community Life:
The University’s rich cultural and recreational offerings reflect the diversity of our community, on campus and off. From ancient artifacts to modern jazz, plus community swim and sports camps, Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, and the Interreligious Center, there’s always a familiar or new experience to be found.
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Economic Impact and Jobs:
As the city’s second-largest private employer, the University is committed to being a diverse workplace, with staff from all walks of life and faculty from around the world. Through our business diversity initiative, we also create opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses and foster the development of the South Side business community.
Explore economic impact and jobs »