Eight Diversity and Inclusion Grants awarded

A community-building retreat for medical education leaders at Washington University’s School of Medicine that will address diversity issues and cultural competence and two days of workshops for WUSTL women faculty on leadership and negotiation skills are among the winning proposals of the Diversity and Inclusion Grants program.

The Advisory Committee for the Diversity and Inclusion Grants has awarded eight grants to Washington University faculty and staff for initiatives that improve the university environment for women and members of underrepresented minority groups.

Faculty and administrators submitted 19 proposals for program initiatives that strengthen and promote diversity and inclusion at WUSTL. Diversity includes differences in gender, race, ethnicity, geography, socioeconomic status, age, politics, philosophy, disability and sexual orientation.

The Advisory Committee for the Diversity and Inclusion Grants was particularly interested in proposals that addressed work environment, recruitment and retention of diverse faculty and administrative staff, and cultural competence.

“The committee was impressed by the breadth and depth of this year’s proposals, the second year that the university has funded these grants. It is clear that there are many on campus who are committed to helping create a more diverse and inclusive environment and have thoughtful ideas on how to do this,” says Kent Syverud, JD, dean of the School of Law, the Ethan A.H. Shepley University Professor and co-chair of the Advisory Committee for the Diversity and Inclusion Grants.

“I look forward to seeing the results of these innovative proposals.”

Advisory Committee Co-chair Kathleen McDermott, PhD, associate professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences, agrees. “We had thoughtful, creative proposals originating from many groups around campus,” McDermott says. “We are very pleased to be able to fund eight of these proposals and think they will enhance diversity and inclusion in our campus environment.”

The project team leaders of the winning proposals, amounts awarded and project titles are:

Heather L. Hageman, director of educational planning and program assessment and director of the standardized patient program in the Office of Medical Student Education at the School of Medicine, $33,000 for “Community-Building Retreat for Medical Education Leaders.”

Richard A. Loomis, PhD, associate professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, $47,183 for “Recruitment of Chemists with Diverse Backgrounds into Academia at WU: A Research Fellow Program.”

Tonya E. Edmond, PhD, associate dean for academic affairs and associate professor of social work in the Brown School, $20,500 for “Leadership & Negotiation Skill Development for Washington University Women Faculty.”

Laura Rosenbury, JD, professor of law and associate dean for research and faculty development in the School of Law, $7,500 for “Narratives of Law and Life: Using Film to Explore the State’s Role in Constructing Identity.”

Peter B. MacKeith
, associate dean of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts and associate professor of architecture, $8,000 for the “Sam Fox School Diversity Lecture Series.”

Charles R. Brown, adjunct lecturer of architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, $15,000 for “Increasing The Diversity Pipeline: The African American Architecture & Visual Arts Alumni Project.”

Priscilla Stone, PhD, director of overseas and undergraduate programs in the International and Area Studies Program in Arts & Sciences, adjunct associate professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences and assistant provost for international education, $20,000 for the “WU Global Diversity Overseas Seminar Program.”

Basia H. Najarro, division administrator in medical education, $25,000 for the “Global Health Initiative.”

Stone, whose project proposal includes a grant competition for Washington University faculty and staff to participate in an overseas seminar program, says, “I am so pleased that our team’s project was chosen for funding.

“We hope that through a series of seminars, workshops and summer site visits to key Washington University study abroad destinations, we can encourage a fuller appreciation of diversity among the university’s faculty and staff by introducing them to dramatically different cultural contexts where discussions about racial and socioeconomics disparities may be quite different from those in American society,” Stone says.

Other members of the Advisory Committee for the Diversity and Inclusion Grants are: Ron King, PhD, the Myron Northrop Professor of Accounting in the Olin Business School; Shelley Milligan, EdD, associate provost; Carolyn Sargent, PhD, professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences; and Jay R. Turner, PhD, associate professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science.

For more information, visit diversity.wustl.edu.