Advancing Faculty

The Office of DEI, in partnership with Academic Affairs, Graduate Studies, the Provost and the Deans, advances the recruitment, retention and advancement of faculty members whose research, teaching, and service advance multicultural perspectives in all fields of studies. UC Davis faculty have networks of support that enable them to do their best work. At UC Davis, we recognize that an inclusive environment and diverse perspective are the best way for our faculty to tackle the toughest problems.


Academic Diversity Initiatives

 

Additional Resources

 

A History of Advancing Faculty at UC Davis

  • Twenty Years of Innovation
  • Efforts to diversify and sustain a diverse faculty began more than twenty years ago, when Barbara Horowitz, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs from 2000-2009, led significant efforts to diversify UC Davis. Her successor, Maureen Stanton, led the first implicit bias workshop for faculty search committees in 2011. In 2012, the ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Grant (NSF) enabled programs to increase participation and advancement of women in science in engineering.
  • The Foundational Legacy of UC Davis’s 2012 NSF-ADVANCE Grant
  • One of ADVANCE’s original proposed initiatives, CAMPOS, was launched in 2014 after two years of planning with $3 million in hiring incentives. In the same year, ADVANCE implemented Strength Through Equity and Diversity (STEAD) anti-bias workshops for faculty search committees campus-wide, with all members of faculty search committees required to participate every three years. In 2016, Forbes ranked UC Davis #1 of the 13 most important STEM universities for women. The NSF-ADVANCE signature program of CAMPOS was institutionalized in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion when several offices were merged and the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion was hired in 2019. That same year, CAMPSSAH launched for faculty in the Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities, to build on the success of CAMPOS.  Academic Affairs has oversight for STEAD, which has expanded and is now considered an integral part of any faculty search.
  • Advancing Faculty Diversity: UC Leads the Way
  • Since 2016, originally with funding from the California Legislature but now sustainably funded by the institution, the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) has offered a competitive grant process for campuses to submit their best ideas for increasing faculty diversity, including recruitment and retention programs. Between the Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion and Academic Affairs, UC Davis has received more of these grants than any other UC campus.

    Faculty of Color United in Scholarship–FOCUS https://diversity.ucdavis.edu/focus

    P.L.A.C.E. with CAMPOS https://diversity.ucdavis.edu/place

    Faculty Workplace Climate Action Group https://diversity.ucdavis.edu/faculty-resources-improving-workplace-climate

    FRIENDS https://diversity.ucdavis.edu/friends

    Creating an Inclusive Campus Climate through Enhanced Academic Review and the Creation of Faculty Learning Communities https://academicaffairs.ucdavis.edu/2019-21-retention

    The UC Davis Pilot Study to Prioritize Academic Excellence in Research and Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Phase I https://academicaffairs.ucdavis.edu/advancing-faculty-diversity-pilot-project

    The UC Davis Pilot Study to Prioritize Academic Excellence in Research and Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Phase II https://academicaffairs.ucdavis.edu/uc-davis-pilot-study-prioritize-academic-excellence-research-and-contributions-diversity-equity-and

     

    The University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellows Program is an extremely competitive post-graduate program, with only 4% of applicants chosen in 2015. UC Davis sponsors its own UC Davis Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, which partners with sister programs sponsored by the UC Office of the President, the University of Michigan, and other UC campuses. Established in 1984, the fellowship program was bolstered by a $5 million commitment from the University of California Office of the President in 2013. These programs are designed to encourage diversity among faculty and scholars and provide research opportunity and career development for scholars whose work will enhance the diversity of the academic community.  UC has offered incentives for campuses to hire from this pool. UC Davis has hired many current UC Davis faculty from these programs.