A New Decade of Diversity

UMD to Hire 100+ Faculty From Underrepresented Backgrounds

The first professors hired in an effort to increase the diversity of UMD faculty entered classrooms this semester as part of a 10-year, $40 million commitment to add more than 100 tenured or tenure-track faculty from underrepresented backgrounds.

With funding from the Office of the Provost and matching dollars from colleges and schools, the Faculty Advancement at Maryland for Inclusive Learning and Excellence program (FAMILE) has nearly tripled support for faculty recruitment and retention. UMD President Darryll J. Pines announced FAMILE as a priority during his inauguration in April.

“A diverse and equitable multicultural community will drive us to our goal of inclusive excellence in everything we do,” Pines said. “We want our student body to be taught by the highest quality faculty who reflect our values and advance our journey of inclusive excellence.”

As of press time, six new faculty had already been hired as a result.

One of FAMILE’s primary goals is creating a welcoming environment for each recruited faculty member, incorporating them into a collegial academic community and advancing the new hire’s expertise and career.

Individual departments will conduct a “readiness assessment” with campus partners and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to ensure they can successfully onboard diverse faculty; provide search committee members with implicit bias training; and develop a retention plan that addresses mentorship, professional development, and opportunities to engage in collaborative grants, internal and external research presentations, and Big Ten leadership programs.

“The FAMILE program is a very intentional way to ensure we’re able to recruit the excellent, diverse faculty we need across campus,” says Senior Vice President and Provost Jennifer King Rice.