Seven faculty members whose service contributes to the development of a culturally and ethnically diverse U-M community have received the 2017 Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award from the Office of the Provost.

The work required to make the University of Michigan campus a more diverse, more equitable and more inclusive community of scholars requires a long-term commitment. That’s why, when we developed and launched our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategic plan last fall, it was a five-year plan. And, like with any plan of this magnitude and significance, there were immediate calls for us to do more and do it quicker. That’s a natural reaction.

Ronald Reagan was marching toward the end of his second term as president. Michael Jackson was releasing his "Bad" album. And in Ann Arbor, a graduate student named Robert Sellers was part of a group that shut down a University of Michigan Board of Regents meeting, protesting a racist joke that was played on a campus radio station and advocating for greater diversity on campus.