The Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration (Yale RITM) is an academic research center located within Yale University that studies race and ethnicity from a variety of academic angles. The director of the RITM Center is Stephen Pitti, a professor of history; American studies; and ethnicity, race, and migration in Yale’s history department. The center offers four different academic fellowship programs for graduate students and faculty members to conduct research on racial issues. The center also has a fellowship program centered around racial issues in education funded by the Mellon Foundation that focuses on “Teaching Race.” ^{1 2}

Background

The Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration is an academic center at Yale University that houses graduate-level research activities as well as undergraduate majors including the Ethnicity, Race, and Migration program, which is the flagship program of the center and was described by the university newspaper as one of the fastest-growing majors at Yale College. ³

In January 2020, the RITM received a $4 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation “intended to advance the study of race within humanities fields across four universities: Yale, Brown, Stanford and the University of Chicago.” RITM announced plans to use the funding to establish new curricular programs, support faculty research projects, provide increased institutional support for students and strengthen community development initiatives. ⁴ The Mellon Foundation grant led to the formation of the Centering Race Consortium between Yale and other schools to coordinate research and events around racial studies. ⁵

Fellowships

The Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration offers four different fellowship programs. The group’s faculty fellows program provides research funding and other support to several professors at Yale across a variety of academic disciplines. RITM’s education fellows conduct research regarding racial studies and critical race theory-inspired educational curricula in K-12 schools. ^{6 7}

The RITM also has a graduate student fellowship for students pursuing Ph.D. degrees at Yale across a variety of disciplines, as well as an arts and practitioners fellowship that funds artworks and installations exploring racial and ethnic issues. ^{8 9}

Academics

The Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration houses the Ethnicity, Race, and Migration undergraduate major program, which is the flagship program of the center and was described by the university newspaper as one of the fastest-growing majors at Yale College. ¹⁰ Specific courses the center has supported include courses titled: Introduction to Border Studies, From the Voting Rights Act to #blacklivesmatter, Latinx Activism in the United States, Politics and Protest in Dance History, Latinx Theologies and Spiritualities, and Anti-Racist Teaching & Learning Collective. ¹¹

Partners

Listed partner organizations of the Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration include the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism, the Yale Center for Environmental Justice, the Association for the Study of Connecticut History, Yale Law School, and Yale Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies, among dozens of other Yale departments and programs. ¹²

1. “Fellows.” Yale RITM. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://ritm.yale.edu/about/fellows
2. “About.” Yale RITM. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://ritm.yale.edu/about
3. Goldblum, Ella. “RITM receives $4 million Mellon grant.” Yale Daily News. Jan 24, 2020. Accessed August 31, 2024. https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2020/01/24/ritm-receives-4-million-mellon-grant/
4. Goldblum, Ella. “RITM receives $4 million Mellon grant.” Yale Daily News. Jan 24, 2020. Accessed August 31, 2024. https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2020/01/24/ritm-receives-4-million-mellon-grant/
5. “2022-2023 Annual Report.” Yale RITM. Accessed September 2, 2024.  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q5OPv7cR3Fk_wKFdJxsH12Z_OXr09ltS/view
6. “Fellows.” Yale RITM. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://ritm.yale.edu/about/fellows
7. “About.” Yale RITM. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://ritm.yale.edu/about
8. “Fellows.” Yale RITM. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://ritm.yale.edu/about/fellows
9. “About.” Yale RITM. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://ritm.yale.edu/about
10.  Goldblum, Ella. “RITM receives $4 million Mellon grant.” Yale Daily News. Jan 24, 2020. Accessed August 31, 2024. https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2020/01/24/ritm-receives-4-million-mellon-grant/
11. “2022-2023 Annual Report.” Yale RITM. Accessed September 2, 2024.  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q5OPv7cR3Fk_wKFdJxsH12Z_OXr09ltS/view
12. “2022-2023 Annual Report.” Yale RITM. Accessed September 2, 2024.  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q5OPv7cR3Fk_wKFdJxsH12Z_OXr09ltS/view