Oct 7, 2021
Dear colleagues,
I am pleased to announce the second and final call for proposals for the UCI Black Thriving Initiative Faculty Cluster Hiring Program. UCI’s Black Thriving Initiative is an unprecedented and transformational campus response to the persistence of systemic anti-Blackness in America. As part of this bold campuswide initiative and our ongoing commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, we now hope to build on last year’s successful call for proposals and invite another round of proposals for the Initiative’s Faculty Cluster Hiring Program.
The UCI Black Thriving Initiative Faculty Cluster Hiring Program is a two-year effort to recruit faculty who interrogate structural racism in its myriad forms, such as the lived experience of anti-Black racism and associated inequalities in diverse institutional domains; the collateral consequences of racism, historically and in the present era; and/or public policy solutions to structural racism in criminal justice, education, the built and natural environment, health and wellness, urban planning, etc. This initiative is designed to build on the hiring priorities of academic units; pave new paths for research and creative expression, teaching and learning, and community engagement; and manifest our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in research, teaching and service.
In support of this initiative, in AY 2021-22 the campus will invest at least six FTE, roughly evenly split across ranks (assistant, associate, full professor), in cluster hiring that aligns with the goals of the BTI. There are two ways to envision the transformational work of the cluster: 1) To encourage interdisciplinary work and broader impact, the cluster can span a number of academic units (i.e., programs, departments and schools); or 2) To transform a single unit (program, department or school), all recruitments in the cluster can be appointed in the same unit (program, department or school). Either way, clustering positions around substantive areas of interest should increase opportunities for successful recruitment by demonstrating UCI’s broad and deep commitment to outstanding research/creative activity and national impact related to the focus of the cluster hire.
Each awarded proposal will receive funds ($50,000 per year for three years) to support programming efforts to strengthen UCI’s position as a place where students, faculty and staff from underrepresented groups thrive. These programming efforts will be initiated by the faculty in the cluster hire and implemented in collaboration with the Office of Inclusive Excellence in ways that advance the UCI Black Thriving Initiative.
Proposals should be submitted electronically to the Office of Academic Planning and Institutional Research by 5 p.m. PT on December 1, 2021 to acadplan@uci.edu. The requirements for submissions and information on how submissions will be reviewed can be found at: https://provost.uci.edu/black-thriving-initiative-faculty-cluster-hiring-program-proposal-requirements/. In the interest of our ability to respond quickly, proposals received after the due date will not be considered. Open searches will be required for all appointments deriving from this program. Any questions about the proposal submission process should be directed to Andrea Bell, Strategic Programs Manager, Division of Academic Planning, at andreapb@uci.edu.
Thank you in advance for your assistance in helping us identify and recruit this new group of outstanding faculty leaders. You can review the outcome of the first call for proposals here. Please direct questions about the cluster hire program to Roxane Cohen Silver, Vice Provost for Academic Planning and Institutional Research, at rsilver@uci.edu.
Sincerely,
Hal Stern
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
Chancellor’s Professor, Department of Statistics