Action Item (as stated with DEI strategic plan launch in 2016)
The University will establish a program to recruit and support faculty across campus and beyond whose research addresses diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) issues, with an emphasis on cutting-edge and next-generation scholarship. Designated as University Diversity & Social Transformation Professors (UDSTP), these faculty will be affiliated with the National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID). Through NCID’s Diversity Scholars Network, they will have access to special activities and resources for promoting and supporting their work, as well as to scholarly collaborations with diversity scholars.
DEI 1.0 Evaluation Update
In 2019, the university launched a campuswide program to acknowledge outstanding senior faculty and to recruit senior faculty who have made significant contributions to DEI at U-M and/or beyond. For the first five years of their appointment, these University Diversity & Social Transformation Professors (UDSTPs) received annual $20,000 research stipends. Through NCID’s Diversity Scholars Network, they had opportunities to collaborate with other diversity scholars along with access to special activities and resources for promoting and supporting their work. In addition, during the term of their NCID Fellow-in-Residence, UDSTPs will present a public lecture on their work related to DEI as part of the annual UDSTP lecture series.
The inaugural cohort of UDSTPs included 9 faculty members from all disciplinary areas: arts and humanities, natural sciences and social sciences. As of September 2022, there have been four cohorts with a total of 27 UDSTPs.
Responsibility: National Center for Institutional Diversity