Home » Diversity Initiative Supports New Tenure-Track Faculty at Six ACM Colleges

Diversity Initiative Supports New Tenure-Track Faculty at Six ACM Colleges

Diversity Initiative Supports New Tenure-Track Faculty at Six ACM Colleges June 21, 2016

A collaboration among the ACM colleges and 15 major research universities that aims to enhance the diversity of faculty on ACM campuses will begin to have an effect this fall with the arrival of the first six Mellon Faculty Fellows.

The new professors have been hired for tenure-track positions with support from the Undergraduate and Faculty Fellows Program for a Diverse Professoriate, a seven-year initiative funded by a generous $8.1 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The program links the ACM with the Big Ten Academic Alliance, which is a consortium of the universities in the Big Ten Conference, and the University of Chicago.

Along with support for newly hired faculty fellows, the Fellows Program’s multi-pronged approach includes Graduate School Exploration Fellowships (GSEF) for current students at ACM colleges and hiring and diversity workshops for faculty and staff from ACM and Big Ten Academic Alliance institutions.

During the course of the grant, 30 faculty fellowships will be awarded to Ph.D. or terminal master’s degree graduates whose backgrounds and life experiences will enhance diversity on the ACM campuses and who have recently earned their graduate degrees, preferably from Big Ten Academic Alliance institutions or the University of Chicago. The program focuses on faculty positions in the humanities, humanistic social sciences, and the arts.

The new Mellon Faculty Fellows are:

  • M. Shadee Malaklou, critical identities studies, Beloit College
  • Prentiss A. Dantzler, II, sociology, Colorado College
  • Stephanie Jones, education, Grinnell College
  • Jennifer Soyun Jhun, philosophy, Lake Forest College
  • Thelma Jiménez-Anglada, Spanish, Lawrence University
  • Crystal Moten, history, Macalester College

The faculty fellowships provide funding for the first two years of salary and benefits, with a half-time teaching load for at least the first year. In addition, each fellow will be paired with a faculty mentor and will have opportunities for professional development and networking with other ACM faculty fellows.

“These faculty fellowships, with support from the Mellon Foundation for hiring in tenure-track positions, represent one piece of what is intended to be a broader set of campus-based initiatives through which each ACM college will work to diversify its curriculum and faculty,” said Brian Williams, ACM Vice President and Director of Faculty Development and Grant Programs. “The undergraduate fellowships for current ACM students and the hiring and diversity workshops funded by the grant are other pieces that the colleges can embed within the larger structure of diversity initiatives on their campuses.”

To facilitate the hiring process for the faculty fellows and other faculty positions at ACM colleges, ACM and Big Ten Academic Alliance staff worked together to set up the Big Ten Academic Alliance Candidate Registration Portal on the ACM website. Graduate students and recent graduate degree recipients at Big Ten Academic Alliance institutions and the University of Chicago in disciplines and with backgrounds targeted by the Fellows Program can sign up through the portal to indicate their interest in being potential applicants for faculty appointments at ACM colleges.

“Since the launch of the portal in late 2015, 600 graduate students and recent alumni have established profiles on the portal,” said Williams. “This suggests significant interest among Big Ten Academic Alliance and University of Chicago graduates in potentially teaching at ACM colleges.”

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