On Sept. 11, 2001, Fatiah Touray was a young, excited first-year student at NYU when tragedy struck the city. Amidst the pain and chaos, she was unable to commute back to her family home in the Bronx, but remembers that day as the one when she found a new home at university.

Touray met a fellow Black student who introduced her to the Academic Achievement Program, an initiative for Black, Latinx, Indigenous and other underrepresented students at NYU.

“I was a part of that group for all four years,” explained Touray. “And when I came back to NYU to work, I actually was the director of that program.”

After undergrad, she taught math at an alternative high school in Brooklyn for students aged 17 to 21, completing her masters before heading to law school. “I know it sounds like a straight line, but there were definitely a lot of ups and downs in that journey,” Touray added, referencing her quick moment in corporate law before a juvenile criminal defense clerkship motivated her to continue on the path of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work. “My passion was firmly rooted in education; I found myself always being led back in that direction.”

Education as a powerful force for social mobility is a consistent theme of her story. “Your socio-economic status or background is not an impediment to success, but it's a footstool that really gives you character and pushes you to excel and achieve,” Touray stated, emphasizing the philosophy that not only guides her work, but is also deeply rooted in her personal life.

12 year old Touray, winning a math competition. / Image courtesy of Fatiah Touray

As a first-generation immigrant to Gambian parents, Touray did not speak English — her third language — until the age of six. Through tracking — a city-wide practice of placing students in separate educational paths based on their academic performance — she was able to access better schools than the ones in her neighborhood.

Other programs that explicitly aimed to knock down barriers allowed Touray to continue her schooling; she was admitted to NYU through the Higher Education Opportunity Program, an initiative ran by New York state that serves educationally and economically disadvantaged residents. “Without the HEOP, I would not have been able to attend NYU because my family could not afford it,” Touray explained.

Her own education journey provided an opportunity to better understand her own identity, starting from her time as an undergraduate. “I kept getting drawn to learning more about myself, my culture [and] my history which led me to major in Africana studies, that was something that was really absent in my education from Kindergarten to 12,” she described.

“Going into law school, I wanted to be in an experience where I could excel, where I didn't necessarily need to think about microaggressions, where I could be in community,” Touray explained of her decision to attend Howard University School of Law, a Historically Black College and University with a strong legacy of civil rights activism and legal work.

As a young girl, recent college graduate, with Judge James Jackson / Image courtesy of Fatiah Touray

Touray specifically recalls the moment her Property Law professor began to speak about property from the standpoint of slaves, and she learned about the law from the lens of marginalized groups in the U.S. This classroom experience was illustrative of the various ways understanding oppression built the perspective she brings to her work.

“Being Black, being a woman, but also being Muslim, [I] navigate the consciousness of dipping into those three worlds constantly,” Touray explained, building upon the concept of W.E.B. Du Bois’ double consciousness. “The ways in which all three parts of that identity make me who I am — that is the politic and perspective that I bring.”

And she did, dedicating her whole self to the progress of other young scholars.

During Touray’s tenure leading the AAP, the program grew from 35 students to over 300. She focused on building a community of students, one that excelled in leadership and research. “Those are communities I was part of as a student, I was able to lead as a professional and I am still connected to as an alumn[a],” she explained, lightly adding that she has an upcoming alumni mixer next week.

Touray specifically identified two initiatives she was most proud of during her seven years at the AAP; the first was reviving the HBCU and Hispanic Serving Institution network, a domestic exchange opportunity that she herself took advantage of as an undergraduate. “We were always getting students from the institutions but we were not sending students,” she elaborated on the dynamics she sought to improve.

Second, after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in Sept. 2017, Touray worked alongside the President’s office to bring 50 students from Puerto Rico to spend their semester in New York. “They were unable to attend school because of the hurricane and the damage that was done,” Touray said. “[Organizing the exchange] had to be done in a short period of time, making sure they had programming, mentors and access to classes.”

And with achievements behind her at the flagship campus, Touray now steps into the role of Senior Director of Inclusion and Equity at NYU Abu Dhabi, where she was drawn by the opportunity to understand diversity in a global context beyond the U.S. “These are conversations that we have all throughout the world,” she said of the universal manifestation of anti-Blackness.

Touray is slated to begin her new position on Dec. 1, and will wait until she acquaints herself with the community to formulate the best-suited DEI initiatives for the institution. “I love assessments, I love data. I use the data to inform the work and the direction that I will go in,” she remarked, explaining how she launched the first Campus Climate Survey at at her most recent position at Sarah Lawrence College.

At Sarah Lawrence and prior, Touray often found herself in inaugural roles. “I get to create and shape a vision and trajectory for where DEI will go for the university,” she described excitedly, explaining how this fits with her interest in NYUAD as a young institution. When she makes the big move to Abu Dhabi — alongside her husband and two young daughters — she says she will miss her family the most. “I have 12 brothers and sisters,” Touray explained, laughing about the shocked response the statement elicits from others. “They are all excited about visiting.”