Internal Grant Program to Help Advance Diversity and Inclusion Goals

The Office of the Provost has launched a new internal grant program designed to enhance and sustain an inclusive, accessible campus community. The grant program—known as the Unsurpassed Student Experience Diversity and Inclusion (USE D&I) Grant—seeks to support diversity programs and practices that deepen understanding and engagement across multiple areas of difference, including racial, ethnic, religious, disability, nationality and veteran status, among others.

The goal of the new internal grants is to enhance a diverse, inclusive student body.

The grants will support planning, implementing and evaluating high-impact practices designed to achieve the targeted objectives. The practices should have the potential of being scaled up to involve more students, and they should include real measurements to determine their effect on those involved.

“This grant program supports one of the key priorities that emerged from the Academic Strategic Plan, which is to enhance and sustain an inclusive, accessible campus of opportunity for a richly diverse student body,” says Provost Michele Wheatly. “Diversity and inclusion are core values of the University, and they are essential components of an outstanding academic experience. Our hope and expectation is that this grant will help generate creative ideas and identify high-impact practices that can really advance our goals in this area.”

Initiatives that are chosen for funding will be developed through the spring and summer and be ready to pilot in the 2018-19 academic year. The plan is to fund $20,000 worth of proposals, with the typical individual project budget totaling $5,000 or less.

Grant proposals are due March 19 by 5 p.m.

Each proposal must explain the target student audience that will be involved and why it would be best served through the proposed high-impact practice. In general, the target audience should be undergraduate students, although experiences that reach graduate students may also be considered. Programs that support training and professional development of faculty and staff who engage directly with students will be considered as well, as long as student impact can be measured.

Complete instructions on how to apply can be found via the grant web page. Questions about the grant initiative should be directed to Rochelle Ford, professor and chair of the public relations department at the Newhouse School and a Provost Faculty Fellow, via email at rlford@syr.edu or by phone at 315.443.9347.

About Syracuse University

Founded in 1870, Syracuse University is a private international research university dedicated to advancing knowledge and fostering student success through teaching excellence, rigorous scholarship and interdisciplinary research. Comprising 11 academic schools and colleges, the University has a long legacy of excellence in the liberal arts, sciences and professional disciplines that prepares students for the complex challenges and emerging opportunities of a rapidly changing world. Students enjoy the resources of a 270-acre main campus and extended campus venues in major national metropolitan hubs and across three continents. Syracuse’s student body is among the most diverse for an institution of its kind across multiple dimensions, and students typically represent all 50 states and more than 100 countries. Syracuse also has a long legacy of supporting veterans and is home to the nationally recognized Institute for Veterans and Military Families, the first university-based institute in the U.S. focused on addressing the unique needs of veterans and their families.