Timeline

•   January 2023

  The AMS Council issues a Statement of Apology in the name of the AMS.
•   2022

  • Dr. Leona Harris hired as AMS Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
  • A reimagined Joint Mathematics Meetings launches with multiple societies working in partnership.
  • MathSafe, a program to support the AMS Policy on a Welcoming Environment at meetings and conferences, is piloted at the Joint Mathematics Meetings.
  • Dr. Ryan Hynd is awarded the AMS Claytor-Gilmer Fellowship for the 2022-2023 academic year.
  • As a temporary measure, AMS President Ruth Charney assigns a Vice President to serve on the Committee on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
  • The AMS now observes Juneteenth as an official staff holiday.
  • AMS ballot prompts are modified to allow for inclusion of a broader range of professional activities, effective with the 2022 election.
  • Through wider outreach by the Committee on Committees and Nominating Committee, the AMS renews efforts to seek a diverse pool of candidates for committee appointments and roles in governance. The AMS Council approves adding a statement to the charges of these committees and the Editorial Boards Committee to remind them to keep diversity of all kinds in mind when selecting candidates.
  • The AMS Programs that Make a Difference Award, which recognizes work that brings more people from underrepresented backgrounds into the profession, is elevated from being a policy committee award to being an award of the Society.
  • The Notices of the AMS publishes the article, Dr. Raymond L. Johnson: A Mathematical Journey and Some Reflections on African Americans in Graduate Mathematical Sciences Programs in the US.(PDF)
  • Beginning in April 2022 and going forward, the AMS Committee on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion provides annual updates on Task Force recommendations to Council.
•   September 2021

  • Dr. Mohamed Omar is awarded the inaugural AMS Claytor-Gilmer Fellowship.
  • Together with the MAA, the AMS published Testimonios, Stories of Latinx and Hispanic Mathematicians. The eBook is available free of charge to AMS and MAA members. To facilitate student access, one chapter per month will appear on the AMS website over the next two years.
•   Summer 2021

  • Applications accepted for inaugural Claytor-Gilmer Fellowship
  • AMS Council and Board of Trustees authorize hiring a Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Call for applications posted.
  • New Associate Director of Government Relations hired, focusing on undergraduate and graduate education in the mathematical sciences, with equity and inclusiveness considered paramount for success.
•   April-May 2021

  • Statement Against Racism and Violence against AAPI Community

  Discussion and Planning

  • AMS Council and Board of Trustees discuss report and work on action plan
  • Task Force members present report across various channels
  • AMS staff read and discuss report
•   March 2021

  Task Force delivers report to AMS Council and to public

•   January 2021

  • AMS Council formally establishes new fellowship in support of Black mathematicians
  • Council approves the adoption of doubly-anonymous review for its journals.
  • AMS Land Acknowledgement statement present at the Joint Mathematics Meetings.
•   Fall-Winter 2020

  Task Force composes final report

  The AMS offers webinar platform and promotional channels to mathematicians of color to amplify their voices and discussions of race and racism in mathematics.

  • Documenting the History of Black Mathematicians
  • Advocating for Students of Color in Your Classroom, Department, Institution, and the Profession: There's More You Can Do
  • Moving Mathematics Forward: Twenty Years Since the Historic Graduation of Drs. Inniss, Scott, and Weems (co-sponsored with the National Association of Mathematicians)

  The AMS hires a new Talent Acquisition & Development Specialist with training and experience in reducing implicit bias in the workplace.

•   Summer-Fall 2020

  The seven-member Task Force:

  • Meets weekly to review AMS actions to understand ways the AMS has contributed to racial discrimination or an unwelcome environment;
  • interviews mathematicians, math historians, and AMS governance; and
  • gathers data and studies articles, reports, and other resources that inform about the history of racism in mathematics in general and in the AMS in particular.
•   June 10, 2020

  AMS participates in #ShutDownSTEM. AMS Governance:

  • Establishes Task Force on Understanding and Documenting the Historical Role of the AMS in Racial Discrimination
  • Creates 2020 Fund and sets forth plan to create fellowship in support of Black mathematicians
•   January 2020

  • AMS establishes Committee on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (CoEDI)
•   2019

  • Council approves the creation of a Prize Oversight Committee, charging it to "develop and implement an approach to recruit larger, more diverse pools of nominees. Further, to develop data-driven processes to measure success of these efforts."
  • Free AMS book program expands to include Tribal colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions with undergraduate math programs.
  • With the MAA, AMS publishes Living Proof: Stories of Resilience Along the Mathematical Journey and sends free copy to every undergraduate mathematics department in the United States, as well as making it available free as an eBook.