The FEIOs serve as advocates for equity, diversity, and inclusion in the overall academic program, partnering with various constituencies inside and outside of the campus in order to support primarily the faculty but also others. The Officers advance principles of inclusive excellence in three significant domains (1) recruitment and retention of top-rate scholar-teachers (2) ongoing professional engagement and advocacy that allow faculty members to thrive throughout their careers (3) confidential consultations with faculty members as needed.
Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Office of Faculty Equity and Inclusion
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Sheila S. Jaswal
Professor of Chemistry; Faculty Equity and Inclusion Officer
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Sheila Jaswal is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Program in Biochemistry and Biophysics and was named the College’s interim chief equity and inclusion officer in February 2023. As faculty equity and inclusion officer since July 2021, Sheila has been an advocate for equity and inclusion in the overall academic program, partnering with the provost and dean of the faculty to support individual faculty members and academic departments. Sheila spearheaded the collection and streamlining of resources to support faculty search committees in applying inclusive practices at each step of the hiring process. She was part of the team that created and launched the Faculty and Staff of Color Mentorship Program and the inclusive onboarding checklist for faculty and academic departments.
In 2016, with Amherst students, Sheila co-created “Being Human in STEM” (HSTEM), a unique course model that empowers students, staff and faculty to reshape their classrooms, laboratories and departments to create an equitable community that enables humans of all identities to thrive and flourish. The HSTEM model has been adopted by Yale University and Pomona College, among many other institutions nationwide, and a book, Being Human in STEM: Partnering with Students to Shape Inclusive Communities, co-authored by Sheila and two Amherst colleagues, Sarah Bunnell and Megan Lyster, was published in April 2023.
Sony Coranez Bolton
Associate Professor of Spanish and English; Faculty Equity and Inclusion Officer; Chair of Latinx and Latin Amer Studies
Sony began his career at Amherst in 2018. His scholarship is situated at the intersection of Hispanic studies, ethnic studies, colonial and postcolonial studies, disability studies, sexuality and gender studies, and queer studies—focusing on Hispano-Filipino literature and cultural production, and intersections of Latinx and Filipinx studies, literature, and culture. Crip Colony: Mestizaje, U.S. Imperialism, and the Queer Politics of Disability in the Philippines, his first book, is set to be published by Duke University Press this spring. Beyond his myriad contributions as a greatly admired teacher and member of his department, Sony is an engaged citizen of the college. He has served on the Committee on Student Fellowships, the Faculty Leadership Committee for the Anti-Racism Plan, and the advisory board of the Center for Humanistic Inquiry, among other committees, and has participated in the Summer Bridge Research Institute. He has also played a central and foundational role in the Latinx and Latin American Studies Program.