Diversity & Inclusion seeks to empower individuals, and groups within the University, to realize their full capabilities. We do this in a variety of ways—from working to widen access for individuals to providing the support and resources needed for staff and faculty to initiate change from within. The programs listed below are part of the key initiatives being led through the Office of the Provost.
This list does not include the many staff-, student-, and faculty-led initiatives happening all across campus and within respective units. You will find greater detail on those efforts in Cross-Campus Initiatives.
Opportunities to pursue a career in academia must be provided consistently throughout a person’s academic journey. To provide mentorship and guidance to students who aspire to work in academia, many of our schools, divisions, and departments have created successful bridge programs at the pregraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels.
Below are a few examples:
To empower campus partners, the D&I Planning Toolkit was developed by the D+I Studio through the Office of the Provost. The Toolkit provides planning and implementation guidance for those who wish to create, improve, or implement new D&I initiatives within their respective units.
Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellows are appointed on the tenure track for up to two years with the intent that they will be promoted to assistant professors at the end of the fellowship period. This program attracts outstanding early-career scholars from diverse backgrounds, including historically underrepresented groups. Fellows are recruited through a national search process conducted at the department level.
UChicago Inclusion Workshops are open to all members of the campus community and aim to create a more inclusive campus climate. Two workshops in the series are currently available: Hearing One Another and Inclusion in Practice.
The University recognizes that our commitment to a diverse professoriate cannot be limited to the faculty of the University of Chicago alone, but must instead look outward to the academy as a whole. Administrative leaders from the Ivy League and other leading research universities created the Faculty Advancement Network to increase diversity in the American academy.