The Alumni Association Executive Board formed a committee of 10 alumni in late 2020 to support and expand upon the diversity, equity and inclusion work being done at Lab.

The committee was formed by the partnership of Michael Zarobe, the director of alumni relations, and Priyanka Rupani, the director of diversity, equity and inclusion.

The committee has two current goals, according to Mr. Zarobe. The first is to develop a DEI listening session with current student leaders, which will occur Feb. 24 via Zoom. The second goal is to host at least one experiential workshop with alumni to deepen their knowledge and skills related to DEI during alumni week in June. 

In the future, the committee wants to launch alumni affinity groups and alumni affinity group events and connect underrepresented groups of alumni to current students and faculty. They plan to have one or two committee members join Lab’s Diversity Advisory Committee.

The DEI committee will meet twice a year with the director of DEI to discuss projects and initiatives.

Mr. Zarobe believes the DEI committee is very important because of all the connections it can create between different groups at Lab, all focused around DEI.

“I think it would really be a missed opportunity if we were not doing something like this. It’s a wonderful opportunity to, again, connect alumni with this great work being done through Ms. Rupani at Lab and then also connect alumni with other alumni in this work, this DEI work, and then also connecting alumni to students in connection with this DEI work that is being done at Lab,” he said.