IU earmarks $1M to diversity programming

IU President Michael McRobbie announced $1 million in funding Thursday for 12 new University projects in an effort to strengthen diversity on IU campuses.

The projects were chosen from all seven IU campuses and the funding will come the President’s University Diversity Initiative,  according to an IU press release.

The projects will help recruit minority students and faculty, support programs for first-year students and aid in building partnerships with communities in Indiana and other universities.

The grants will range from $29,000 to $122,000.

“I am extraordinarily pleased with the energy, imagination and creativity shown in these proposals,” McRobbie said in the press release. “All the campuses responded to the challenge with ideas that reflect their strategic goals and address the varied dimensions of diversity. I look forward to seeing the results that these initiatives will produce.”

After announcing the new initiative in September, McRobbie encouraged programs from all IU campuses to apply for funding, according to the press release.

A 10-member committee, made up of representatives from IU-Bloomington and the regional IU campuses, evaluated the proposals, narrowing them down to 22 and finally 12. Each proposal was scored on a 100-point scale, and the highest-scoring projects will receive funding.

“I was very encouraged by the response and by the innovation and creativity that were demonstrated in the proposals that were submitted,” said Edwin Marshall, IU vice president for diversity, equity and multicultural affairs, in the press release.

“The primary focus was on student recruitment and persistence, but we also saw proposals addressing faculty recruitment and engagement with the larger communities in which we work. There was a very broad approach to addressing diversity.”