Transform’s story is one of student voices, structural change and collective action. It began with an open dialogue on racial climate, which led to a brand new college which continues to support a two-way flow between community knowledge and academic study.

On Nov. 20, 2015, the U held an “Open Dialogue on Racial Climate” in the ballroom at the A. Ray Olpin Union. Several hundred people, most of them students, showed up to voice their concerns to university leaders. The result was a list of responses and initiatives to address the concerns expressed by students and led to a group of faculty members in the Ethnic Studies and Gender Studies Programs developing a detailed, written proposal for the School for Cultural and Social Transformation. On July 15, 2016, the proposal passed through its sixth and last official body, the Board of Regents, and became a college — without a single negative vote.

Our divisions and programs share cutting-edge concepts, faculty, and space. Our goal is to forge the wave of the future for the study of shifting sexualities, changing genders, dynamic immigrations and emergent struggles against all racist and ableist beliefs.