The New Approaches to Promote Diversity and Inclusion grants program, announced by UGA President Jere W. Morehead in August, has garnered 39 proposals from units across campus.
Supported by $250,000 in private funds dedicated by the president, the program will award grants from $10,000 to $25,000 to selected recipients. The grants will be used for the development or adoption of new projects that support the recruitment, retention and success of underrepresented and underserved students at UGA.
A six-member committee charged by Michelle Garfield Cook, vice provost for diversity and inclusion and strategic university initiatives, and Arthur Tripp Jr., assistant to the president, is diligently reviewing the submitted proposals. Successful individuals and units will be informed of their award status on Dec. 15, and funds for their projects will be available Jan. 2.
“One of the things that’s most exciting for me is to see the broad range of proposals that units from across campus have submitted,” Cook said. “People are viewing diversity through the lens of underrepresentation in their respective areas, and there’s an incredible sense of ownership across the university for the work of advancing diversity and inclusion.”
The members of the grant proposal review and selection committee are Michele Howard, associate vice president for the Division of Student Affairs; Henry N. Young, the Kroger Associate Professor in Community Pharmacy and president of the Black Faculty and Staff Organization; Rosa Driggers, associate director of admissions for diversity and access in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions; Akash Shah, an undergraduate student majoring in cellular biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and an orientation leader in summer 2017; Carolyn Medine, a professor of religion and African American studies in Franklin College; and Tim Samples, an assistant professor of legal studies in the Terry College of Business and a core faculty member in the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute.
