As first round of funding ends, faculty diversity council looks back on accomplishments (Columbia Spectator - 11/05/14) Columbia University in the City of New York, #Harlem, #HarlemEd EXCERPT: As the Advisory Council for the Enhancement of Faculty Diversity approaches the end of its first round of funding, members are looking to secure additional University support for their ongoing efforts. The council was formed in the spring of 2012 by University President Lee Bollinger and Provost John Coatsworth under the Faculty and Pipeline Diversity Program. At the time, the program gave the council $30 million to allocate to various diversity efforts, including recruiting faculty from other universities over the next three years, increasing faculty retention rates, and improving campus climate. “Our expectation is that the University will and the provost will support another round. And we are working towards a proposal … for additional University support to move forward,” said dental professor Dennis A. Mitchell, senior associate provost for faculty diversity and the newly appointed leader of the council. “I mean we’re not completed, we’re not through—yet—the initial award, but you know we don’t want any gap in funding at all.” While it’s unlikely that Columbia will deny additional funding to faculty diversity efforts, Mitchell said that sustaining such initiatives is key given how much the council has accomplished in the past three years. “I think we’ve done some amazing things on this campus. We have some amazing women faculty, some amazing, you know, outstanding underrepresented minority faculty, but we’re just starting,” he said. “We want to make sure that we continue to be the go-to place for outstanding scholars in the nation.” Since 2012, the $30 million has been divided into five key areas, Mitchell said. The first, taking up 80 percent of the money, is a competitive request for proposals process through which individual schools at Columbia can apply to use the funds to recruit outstanding faculty from other universities. “Ultimately, everybody applies, and they compete, and we select some of the best scholars to try to go after them and bring them to Columbia,” Mitchell said. The second-largest portion of the money goes toward junior faculty awards, which are geared to improve faculty retention. Current faculty at Columbia who have, in some way, added to the University’s diversity—for example, a female scholar who has done exemplary work in a notoriously male-dominated field of study—can also apply through a RFP process for grants to aid them with their work. “Although it’s extremely important to increase hiring of diverse candidates, the other side of the coin is to retain the faculty that we have,” said sociomedical sciences professor and council member Ana F. Abraido-Lanza. Efforts specifically aimed at improving retention is something Abraido-Lanza is particularly concerned about. “I believe more effort has to be put in place to make sure that the faculty that we currently have at Columbia are successful, and they’re happy, and that they continue to thrive,” she said.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 17:31:35 +0000
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