Archive

May 12, 2005

Diversity grants distributed: Thirteen innovative projects to share $400,000

            The President’s Diversity Appraisal Implementation Fund has awarded $400,000 to 13 proposals for innovative projects that will enhance student development, enhance faculty diversity or improve the campus, workplace or classroom climate.
            The committee received 42 proposals requesting over $1.6 million.
            “Through the diversity appraisal conducted last fall by Vice President Rusty Barcelo, we concluded that the University has taken a number of very good steps toward addressing issues of diversity,” says UW President Mark Emmert. “But the appraisal also noted that there are still persistent barriers and challenges we need to tackle. The projects funded in this initiative are intended to get at some of these challenges.  It is an important investment to make, and I am pleased we are in a position to do so.”
            All funding for the proposals is one-time and temporary. Preference was given to projects emphasizing interdisciplinary solutions and collaborations, and ones that demonstrate a likelihood of finding ongoing support.
            The projects are:

• College of Education Mentoring Network, $25,000. Create an ongoing mentoring relationship between students of color and recent graduates of color who are currently working in academic positions. Increase the recruitment and retention of students of color, promote interdisciplinary collaboration, and improve the college’s outreach and public engagement. Steve Kerr, project director.
  
• Comparative Exploration of Diversity: Interdisciplinary Knowledges and Personal Engagements, $28,100.  (Comparative History of Ideas, Women Studies, English). Develop and teach a new introductory diversity course through the CHID Program. The course will include foundational knowledge about diversity in historical and contemporary perspective, interactive pedagogies, and community engagement activities. Jeanette Bushnell, Amy Peloff, Georgia Roberts, Phillip Thurtle, project directors.
  
• Disability Studies Curriculum Transformation Seminar, $40,000.  (Law, Societies, and Justice). Conduct a seminar to assist faculty who are interested in developing new courses focusing on disability or to revise existing ones to include disability studies. Results will be shared at a Disability Studies conference on campus in 2007. Dennis Lang, Sharan Brown, project directors.
  
• Diversity Enhancement Project, $22,000.  (UW Bothell). Initiate and develop new strategies aimed at overcoming persistent institutional barriers to building a more diverse educational environment at UW Bothell. Bruce Burgett, Susan Franzosa, Diane Gillespie, Tana Hasart, Becky Rosenberg, project directors.
  
• Employee Resource Fair, $10,000.  (Staff Working Committee, University Diversity Council). Sponsor a UW Employee Resource Fair and educational sessions to inform staff members who have less access and information about the many services and opportunities available to them, such as English language programs, disability services, Q Center, financial aid, training and development, and other services for staff and families. Ruth Johnston, Vennie Gore, project directors.
  
• Improving Institutional Climate at the UW School of Nursing, $33,000.  Improve the sociopolitical climate at the School of Nursing by making explicit and changing the way unacknowledged norms, beliefs, and behaviors inhibit efforts to be inclusive. This project will assist in achieving goals of the 2005-2010 strategic plan. Carole Schroeder, project director.
  
• Minority Faculty Collective: Resources for Diversity Project (The Minority Faculty CORD Project), $50,000. (American Ethnic Studies and English). Establish and maintain a formal University-wide network of support and mentorship for the professional concerns and career goals of younger minority faculty. Create avenues for assisting and preparing untenured faculty with negotiating processes and requirements for research, teaching, and service. Rick Bonus, Caroline Chung Simpson, project directors.
  
• PIPE and Adelante: Strengthening Mentorship Partnerships at UW, $10,000. (American Ethnic Studies). Initiative to strengthen, expand, and improve PIPE (Pacific Islander Partnerships in Education) and Adelante’s goals of addressing the low retention and graduation rates of Pacific Islander, Latino/Latina/Chicano/Chicana, and other students at UW (PIPE and Adelante are student mentoring groups). Expands program to serve African American, Native American, and Asian American students. Rick Bonus, Kathleen Llamas, Angelita Chavez, Mavis Tevega, Edgar Flores, project leaders.
  
• Pre-Major in Astronomy Program (Pre-MAP), $21,700.   This new program, developed and led by astronomy graduate students, will recruit underrepresented students interested in math and science to the field of astronomical research early in their college careers.  Once in the program, the undergraduates will receive one-on-one mentorship through their first year.  Bruce Balick, project director.
  
• Primary Care Diversity Initiative, $45,000.  (Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, and Family Medicine). Increase the diversity of participants in the residency and fellowship programs who are likely to remain in the School of Medicine, and develop a network of cross-discipline support for junior faculty, residents, and fellows. Richard Shugerman, Ben Danielson, Heather McPhillips, project directors.
  
• Tacoma Diversity Resource Center, $50,000.  (Diversity and Minority Affairs Department). Establish a Diversity Resource Center at the UW Tacoma to advance opportunities for improving campus climate, increasing external relations with the community, and providing resources to expand the critical mass of minority students and faculty on campus. Glenna Chang, project director.
  
• UW Training Collective, $30,000.  A training collective created by joint funding of projects proposed by the Gateway Center, the Minority Think Tank, the Q Center, and UW ADVANCE (which works to increase the participation of women in academic science and engineering careers). The project will review training philosophies, goals, and audiences; pilot and evaluate training options, and propose an effective permanent diversity training program for students, faculty, and staff. Sujot Kaur Chawla, Peg Cheng, Jennifer Self, Megan Wilbert, Joyce Yen, and others, project leaders.
  
• Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, $40,000.  (Department of Political Science). Create a nationally visible center for the social scientific and interdisciplinary study of race and ethnicity and their impact on politics and society.  The Center will expand to include interested faculty members in other departments. Stephen Majeski and Gary Segura, project directors.