Rising Star Diversity Grant

UCCS is committed to inclusive diversity as a foundation for teaching and scholarship and this mini grant will be one route to demonstrate our commitment to supporting our marginalize an minoritized faculty. As Griffin (2019) states "Increasing faculty diversity requires attention to departmental and campus climates and environments including the provision of support an resources necessary for faculty retention." (p. 276). The Rising Star Diversity Grant will provide one small provision of such support so that some of our newest UCCS community members have the opportunity to start their research/creative work at UCCS and create a foundation for their success. Will it be enough? No, but it's a start.

Our students need diverse role models. Our ways of knowing need diverse thinkers and doers. We need more people who are experts in EDI on campus. The future of innovation, discovery, and creativity depends on broadening participation. Though diversity is so much more than just "numbers" (Mitchneck, Smith & Latimer, 2016) metrics such as this do provide one source of information that reveals systemic inequities. UCCS has a moral imperative to increase diverse faculty representation on campus and increase the number of scholars who study diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Faculty hiring is made especially difficult right now because of COVID-19. As a shared global disaster, COVID-19 has changed almost every aspect of our daily lives an practices. Shifting to a remote work environment exposed deep inequities within academic structures that are and will impact our faculty researchers in years to come, especially those with marginalized and minoritized identities (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021). On top of the ongoing systematic affects by COVID-19, our country has also been grappling with high profile racial injustice an discrimination against our BIPOC communities. Within this deeply stressful context, providing new faculty hires with additional time to navigate a new university, set up their research or studios, and begin their research agendas is critical now more than ever. We simply must set up the next generation of marginalized and minoritized faculty scholar for success.

Griffin, K. A. (2019). Redoubling Our Efforts: How Institutions Can Affect Faculty Diversity. Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education. Retrieved April 13, 2021, from https://www.equityinhighered.org/resources/ideas-and-insights/redoubling-our-efforts-how-institutions-can-affect-faculty-diversity/

Mitchneck, B., Smith, J. L., & Latimer, M. (2016). A recipe for change: Creating a more inclusive academy. Science, 352(6282), 148–149. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad8493

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2021). The Impact of COVID-19 on the Careers of Women in Academic Sciences Engineering, and Medicine. The Academies Press.

UCCS Institutional Research Website (2021).