diversity students

About Us

Rutgers University has been a pioneer in its commitment to building and nurturing a diverse community. Diversity among our graduate students, faculty, staff and alumni is a major strength of the Rutgers experience.

Our graduate programs on the New Brunswick, Newark and Camden campuses are renowned not only for their quality, but also for their strong multicultural and international student focus.

Fifty-four percent of graduate students are women. More than 2,072 international students from over 100 countries come to Rutgers to pursue graduate study.

Race/ethnicity statistics for full-time enrolled graduate students:

  • White: 44.9 percent
  • Asian/Pacific Islander: 10.3 percent
  • African American: 7.9 percent
  • Latino: 7.4 percent
  • Foreign: 25.4 percent
  • Other: 4.1 percent

We value diversity because it strengthens our research and teaching by expanding the viewpoints, experiences, and backgrounds of our graduate students.

Student Biography: Omotayo (Tayo) Jolaosho

Tayo Jolaosho

Tayo Jolaosho is a cultural anthropologist with a background in performance and integrated arts. Currently a postdoctoral student at the University of California, Merced, Tayo earned her PhD in the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University. Her dissertation investigated the role of embodied performance in community mobilizations for social change in South Africa. Her graduate research was supported by awards from Fulbright Hays, National Science Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Social Science Research Council, among others. Her work extended beyond South Africa as the co-editor of African Women Writing Resistance: Contemporary Voices, a transnational anthology on women's strategies of contestation and resistance to the challenges they experience.