$1 million NSF grant to enhance faculty equity, diversity, inclusion

Posted on October 31, 2019

ADVANCE group at the program's launch event.
Launch event of a 3 year grant from NSF to enhance our efforts to recruit, retain, and advance faculty of color/women in STEM.

UNC Greensboro has been awarded a prestigious, $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The three-year NSF award, ADVANCE: Organizational Change for Gender Equity in STEM Academic Professions, will support the adaptation and implementation of proven organizational change strategies to promote gender equity inclusive of intersecting social identities such as race and ethnicity.

“We are delighted to have received this important award. It signals our ongoing commitment to all forms of equity and provides resources to help us achieve our desired outcomes,” said Dr. Dana Dunn, UNCG Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor.

Using a data analytic approach, coupled with focus group data and incorporating evidence-based practices, UNCG has committed to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science careers, thereby contributing to the development of a more diverse science and engineering workforce. While the focus of the grant is to address aspects of STEM academic culture and institutional structure that may differentially affect women faculty and academic administrators, UNCG views this grant as an opportunity to enhance our commitment to a diverse professoriate across all disciplines.

The ADVANCE program activities also include key allies necessary for achieving true culture change. Under the leadership of the principal investigator, Provost Dunn, the ADVANCE team brings together a diverse group of co-principal investigators including: Dr. Ayesha Boyce, Assistant Professor of Educational and Research Methodology (ERM); Dr. Shelly Brown-Jeffy, Associate Professor of Sociology; Dr. Cerise L.  Glenn, Director of African American and African Diaspora Studies and Associate Professor of Communication Studies; Dr. Julie Mendez Smith, inaugural Chancellor’s Fellow for Campus Climate and Professor of Psychology; and Dr. Terri Shelton, Carol Jenkins Mattocks Distinguished Professor and Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement.

The UNCG ADVANCE team is rounded out with Provost Faculty Fellow for 2019-20, Professor Steve Haines; the Office of Sponsored Programs’ Associate Director of Proposal Development Services Dr. Aubrey Turner and Proposal Development Specialist Julie Voorhees; Associate Vice Chancellor of Research and Engagement Dr. Kimberly Littlefield; and ERM Visiting Assistant Professor Dr. Aileen Reid.

There will be a robust set of activities as part of this transformative initiative including a website that will update the campus on activities and resources, support for ongoing implicit bias training particularly for search committees, and reviews of barriers and innovative solutions to achieving work/life balance while advancing in promotion and tenure among others.

All activities and initiatives will be internally and externally evaluated.

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