The Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is one of the most far-reaching intellectual and institutional projects Rutgers has undertaken. The Institute amplifies the scholarship in our humanistic fields as they commit to the work of social justice, focusing especially on anti-racism and social inequality. The Institute will establish a vibrant intellectual space for research, the arts, and public engagement across our campuses in Camden, Newark, and New Brunswick, with RBHS contributions as well, and it will facilitate spaces for mutual conversation, shared undertaking, and knowledge production between the university and its surrounding communities.

Leading the institute as Director from Rutgers-Newark will be Elise Boddie. A Henry Rutgers Professor of Law and a Judge Robert L. Carter Scholar, Professor Boddie is also a leading national commentator on the intersection of race and civil and constitutional rights, and the founder and director of The Inclusion Project, which seeks to advance racial equity through law and policy, research, community engagement, and media. Professor Boddie will focus her directorship on exploring dynamic solutions to systemic racism that can be activated through law and policy and on developing equitable integration for public education, in partnership with researchers, communities, and students. She will help to attract publicly-engaged scholars across a variety of disciplines and to providing mentorship opportunities for junior and mid-career scholars whose work bear on themes of race and justice.