Faculty Diversification
PRODiG
To align with the Purchase College “Think Wide Open” mantra, diversifying the faculty to mirror the diversity of our students has been a college priority and continual request and expectation of our community members and stakeholders.
The college is committed to ensuring that faculty diversification is actively taking place on our campus.
To this end, we are actively moving forward with the PRODiG (“Promoting Recruitment, Opportunity, Diversity, Inclusion and Growth”) grant which aims to increase the representation of historically underrepresented faculty at SUNY, which includes underrepresented minority (“URM”) faculty in general and in women faculty of all races in the STEM fields (“WSTEM”).
The PRODiG faculty diversity grant will enable us to hire, support, and retain more faculty members of color to teach in our classrooms. In 2019, the college’s PRODiG application was accepted and deemed eligible, by SUNY Administration’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to receive salary support funds to hire five URM or WSTEM assistant professor tenure track faculty.
Research shows that increased enrollment, retention, and matriculation (time to graduation) rates are directly correlated to students of color being taught, advised, and mentored by those that look like them and come from similar backgrounds.
Timeline
By fall 2020, the college has completed the recruitment and search process for hiring at least three of the five grant allocated tenure track faculty hires to teach in our classrooms. These hires are teaching interdisciplinarily in our Global Black Studies, Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies, Biology, and School of the Arts curricula programs.
Looking forward towards fall 2021, the college anticipates being able to hire the additional two faculty members and an allocated faculty fellow to complete our allocated PRODiG positions.
For More Information
PRODiG Committee Members
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Krystal Perkins
Associate Professor of Psychology -
Barbara Moore
Director of Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment -
Jennifer Shingelo
Director of Student Support and Academic Achievement -
Joseph Skrivanek
Distinguished Service Professor of Chemistry