Message to USC Faculty
From: Michael W. Quick, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
June 28, 2019
As I wrote in my November 1, 2018 memo, we budgeted $50 million in new funds to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion across our university, especially among our faculty colleagues. This has been a joint effort between my office and the schools and academic units. I write today to update you on our efforts and reconfirm our commitments.
So far, we have disbursed nearly $12 million. The bulk of this funding – about $9 million – has gone to support 23 new faculty hires across 10 schools and in all three divisions of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. As a result of those efforts to date, African-American men, Latinx men and women, women in STEM, and faculty from other underrepresented groups are now more present in our ranks than ever before and are providing our students the enriching and exemplary academic experiences they deserve. We have funded $2.5 million for our dual-career initiative to better support schools that hire the partners of newly recruited faculty. We used the remaining resources to retain our elite faculty who are being recruited elsewhere, and support our schools as they promote postdoctoral fellows to assistant professors.
This multifaceted approach to improving diversity, equity, and inclusion across our faculty is critical to shaping true, structural change across the university.
I thank the Academic Senate and USC’s faculty, staff, students for their tireless advocacy to keep us focused on this critical priority. I am pleased to say that, over recent years, we have made significant progress toward improving inclusivity among our faculty colleagues, but I also know that we must continue in our work as determined and steadfast as ever.
These efforts will continue to be a main priority under the leadership of Interim Provost Elizabeth Graddy, who has worked closely with me and our colleagues across the university to foster and support our diverse and inclusive community.
Cc: Wanda Austin
Carol Folt
Academic Senate
Academic Deans
President’s Cabinet
Provost’s Cabinet