In 1989, Gilda A. Barabino, a biochemist and chemical engineer by training, was a new faculty member at Northeastern University and a mentor in the NEBHE Role Model Network for Underrepresented Students. Today, with Black faculty members still accounting for only 6% of all full-time faculty, Barabino is spreading her message of success as president of Olin College of Engineering. "I know from personal experience that no matter how excellent a department’s faculty and support staff may be, it is hard for students of color to imagine a future in which they can succeed without the distinct modeling and mentorship made possible from professors and counselors who look like them and who have had many of the same life experiences," she writes. She explains how we must ensure "we are moving beyond words and demonstrations and taking real action to ensure that equity, diversity and opportunity exists and benefits young people of color—not only within our quads, residence halls and classrooms—but in the larger world."