• Office of Intercultural Support
  • The Office of Equity and Belonging, within the division of Student Success, is dedicated to fostering a uniquely creative and intellectual learning community that values a diversity of identities, perspectives, values, ideas, experiences, and beliefs.

    Equity and Belonging offers the following programming:

    • Cultural, religious, and affinity programming and celebrations
    • Identity development and racial, ethnic, and cultural awareness and education
    • Support for students in opportunity programs
    • Cultural and intersectional identity support

    Heritage Months, Recognition Days & Religious Observances

    In our effort to promote empathy, raise awareness, and educate, we will continue this year to acknowledge an array of heritage months, days of cultural recognition, and religious observances. While this is not an exhaustive list, we recognize this as an opportunity to honor the legacies, histories, scholarship, traditions, and contributions of each community. It is also important to note that the pursuit of freedom, self-definition, and justice is not time-limited. Commemorations are a starting point, a helpful way to honor and include all members of our community; by no means do they constitute the entirety of our work toward creating a more just world. In addition, we at Equity and Belonging support focusing on the intersectionality of identities, uplifting the whole person, and highlighting the interconnectedness of self and community. 

    The Belonging Journey

    The Belonging Journey is a dialogue series focused on exploring structural inequalities, shedding light on power and privilege, and bolstering a sense of belonging. The series upholds self-determination and agency as critical to understanding yourself, navigating challenges, and using your power to effect change. Events are open only to New School students.

  • Our Team

    Lorenley Baez

    Lorenley Báez

    Associate Provost, Equity & Belonging

    Lorenley Baez

    Lorenley Baez

    Lorenley Báez joined The New School in January 2020 as assistant vice president of Student Success. She was later appointed associate provost for Academic Advising and Career Development in Student Success in 2021.  In 2023, Lorenley was appointed associate provost for Equity and Belonging, an inaugural role that fosters a uniquely creative and intellectual learning community that values a diversity of identities, perspectives, values, ideas, experiences, and beliefs.

    Previously Lorenley worked at the University of Mount Saint Vincent, where she served as associate dean of the Oxley Center for Academic Advisement, providing strategic oversight for career education, internships, academic advisement, TRiO Student Support Services, the Mount Access Program, the Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program, the Academic Resource Center, and the Office of Disability Services. She was also an adjunct instructor in the Department of Sociology, where she taught race and gender identity theory.

    Lorenley is also the principal consultant for Lorenley Báez Consulting, where she works with nonprofit organizations, colleges, and universities to improve the student experience by providing an array of support services in the following areas: team development and professional coaching, curriculum and co-curricular design and assessment, organizational development and strategic planning, and equity, inclusion, and social justice education, awareness, and competency.

    Lorenley is a graduate of American University (AU), where she earned a bachelor’s degree in print journalism and two master's degrees in organization development and public administration. Lorenley co-founded the first Latino Student Conference, intended to provide resources, community building and an array of opportunities for college-age Latino students in the Washington metropolitan area. Additionally, as a former AU employee, she co-created the university’s first Latino affinity alumni group, which was later recognized as the first chapter for Latino alumni of American University.

    J’Andrea Barrow

    J’Andrea Barrow

    Director, HEOP

    J’Andrea Barrow

    J’Andrea Barrow

    J’Andrea Barrow was born on the small but mighty island of Barbados and was raised in Queens, New York. As a child, J’Andrea had a deep passion for foster and youth programs, and she ended up attending SUNY Plattsburgh, where she earned her bachelor’s in Social Work. Her passion for higher education and opportunity programs emerged during her time at Plattsburgh, and for that she is eternally grateful. J’Andrea immediately entered a master’s in Social Work program at Stony Brook, where she concentrated in higher education and social and community development. She has served in various capacities in different institutions and has been a Student Success advisor for Parsons School of Design for the past two years. The opportunity to work with New School students, advocate on their behalf, and connect them to resources to help them succeed at our institution has left her fulfilled, as she wanted to continue pursuing that passion more directly, returning to her original interest in working with and for HEOP, IOP, and other success opportunity programs. J’Andrea is very excited to be transitioning into this new realm, and she is even more excited to continue working with the New School community on a larger scale.

  • Contact Us

    Equity and Belonging
    72 Fifth Avenue, 4th floor
    New York, NY 10011

    Lorenley Báez 
    Associate Provost, Equity & Belonging
    baezl@newschool.edu

    J'Andrea Barrow
    Director, HEOP
    barrowj@newschool.edu

  • Related Links

  • Take The Next Step

Submit your application

Undergraduates

To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

Undergraduate Adult Learners

To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Graduates

To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Close