Office of Inclusion and Equity

The Office of Inclusion and Equity (OIE) is responsible for leading and advancing NYUAD's implementation of practices and programs that foster inclusion, diversity, belonging, and equity in the workplace. It primarily serves faculty, staff, academic support, post-doctoral, and research employees.  The OIE provides leadership, consultation and programming to strengthen policies and structures and collaborats with various stakeholders to help NYUAD become a more diverse and inclusive institution.  The OIE reports to the Office of the Vice Chancellor.

Leader Profile

Fatiah Touray, Esq. is responsible for leading and directing NYUAD’s programs that promote inclusion, diversity, equity, and belonging (IDBE). Fatiah works in partnership with Spiritual Life and Intercultural Education (SLICE), the Office of the Provost, and all students, faculty, and staff dedicated to the work of helping NYUAD become a truly inclusive institution.

Fatiah comes to NYUAD from Sarah Lawrence College where she was the inaugural Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Special Assistant to the President. Previously, she was the Assistant Dean of Diversity and International Advising and the Director of the Academic Achievement Program at the College of Arts and Science at NYU.

Fatiah brings a deep commitment to global education and engagement along with diversity, equity, and inclusion work. In her role at Sarah Lawrence, she launched the first campus climate survey focusing on inclusion, diversity, equity, and belonging. She has introduced bias mitigation training for academic communities, launched programs designed to increase faculty diversity, created and launched a course for all first-year students on Belonging at SLC, and created affinity groups for faculty and staff of color and LGBTQ+ identified faculty and staff.

Fatiah’s philosophy on inclusion, diversity, belonging and equity work aligns with a proverb from her native Gambia: “If your only tool is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail.” Diversity work is often approached from a deficit framework, starting with a litany of issues and problems that need to be fixed. However, based on her work in training in this area, Fatiah believes diversity work is most effectively approached through the positive intersections of diversity, equity, belonging and inclusion. For Fatiah  diversity work is synonymous with organizational excellence and true inclusion.