Stanford Student and Faculty Diversification in the 1970s

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Thursday, February 13, 2025
4:30 - 6:00 p.m. (Pacific time)

Stanford Law School
Room 290, Crown Quadrangle
559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford

The diversity of Stanford’s undergraduate student body increased markedly in the early 1970s with greater participation of Jews, African Americans, Latinos, and women. A bit later, a determined effort to diversify the University’s faculty was formally initiated. These events led, in turn, to greater diversity of our graduate and professional student bodies. With broad support from the Stanford staff, faculty and trustees, two foci of these undertakings were the Faculty Senate’s Committee on Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid (C-UAFA) and the Faculty Affirmative Action (FAA) program. Throughout these endeavors, the University sought relatively successfully to both achieve greater social equity and enhance its scholarly/educational capabilities. Arthur (Artie) Bienenstock chaired C-UAFA from 1969 to 1972 and was responsible for FAA from 1972 to 1977. In this talk, Bienenstock will discuss some of the major events of that period and some of the people behind those events from his C-UAFA and FAA perspectives. The talk will end with a brief discussion of our present situation, with some aspects about which we should be quite pleased, but with some disappointments and concerns.

Arthur (Artie) Bienenstock is associate director of the Wallenberg Research Link, special assistant to the (Stanford) President for Federal Research Policy and professor emeritus of photon science. He has served in many different administrative capacities at Stanford since joining the faculties of applied physics and materials science in 1967. Of particular relevance to his talk are his service as chair of the Committee on Financial Aid (1968-9), chair of the Committee on Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid (1969-72), as well as Faculty Affirmative Action Officer and Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs (1972-1977). In these positions, he participated in the efforts to diversify the undergraduate student body and the faculty. More recently, as the associate director for science of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and as a member of the National Science Board, he focused on the nation’s STEM workforce and the need for greater participation of women, under-represented minorities, and youth from the lower economic strata in that workforce.

*This program will be recorded. If you will not be able to attend in person or on Zoom, please register and we will email you a link to watch the recording after post-production is completed.