$15M Grant Will Help U of California Recruit and Mentor Diverse Faculty

The University of California (UC) has received a $15 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (PPFP), which “encourages outstanding women and minority Ph.D. recipients to pursue academic careers” at the university.

The most-recent funding will go toward expanding the number of PPFP fellowships and establishing a hiring program for faculty who emphasize diversity and equity in the humanities at six UC institutions: UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Merced, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis. All six are Hispanic-serving institutions.

“Nothing is more important for the long-term vitality of the academy nationwide than the mentorship and recruitment of excellent and diverse faculty,” said UC Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Michael T. Brown. “We need a professoriate drawn from all walks of life and experiences. With the $15 million provided by the Mellon Foundation, we can continue to build that scholarly community, which truly reflects the demographics of California and our country.”