Multi-campus systems form the foundation of the US higher education sector, encompassing over 500 institutions and catering to over 7.5 million students. Four out of every five Pell-eligible students in public four-year higher education are enrolled in a multi-campus system. Developing a professoriate that reflects the wide diversity and demographic richness of the students entering higher education is more critical than ever.

As we continue to navigate today's dynamic work landscape, the success of any team hinges on its ability to adapt, collaborate, and innovate. Many of us are in particularly challenging contexts in relation to our INCLUDES project, so we'd like to share a few resources that you may find useful.

Decades of research concludes that to increase racial diversity in the academic profession, the academic work environment needs to transform. Policies, practices, norms, and expectations must shift so that an array of methods, epistemologies, contributions, and perspectives are recognized and valued in faculty hiring, evaluation, and other reward systems. Still, even with this recognition, efforts at initiating and sustaining transformation often fail.

With this background in mind, we, the RISE-UPP Social Science Research Team (SSRT), seek to investigate the intricate dynamics of organizational transformation, specifically within the context of STEM faculty racial diversification.

Colleagues

I am delighted to introduce you to the National Science Foundations’s Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Initiative: Re-Imagining STEM Equity Utilizing Postdoctoral Pathways (RISE UPP) Alliance. This Alliance represents collaboration and innovation in education across a partnership that includes 25 universities and their 5 state university system offices. Our alliance recognizes that State university systems can be a catalyst for change and transformation while offering efficiencies and economies of scale.