In an email to members of the IU community this week, President Pamela Whitten announced a “first-of-its kind” diversity hiring fund at IU.
The Presidential Diversity Hiring Initiative is an upcoming seven-year program that plans to use “reallocated non-academic funds, as well as external gifts” to focus on “hiring professors from groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education.”
The program will be managed by the IU Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs and is only one of the many DEI initiatives the university has introduced. Other programs include a “health disparities fund,” a “gender equity task force,” and a newly introduced “path to promotion and tenure for enhancing equity, inclusion, and diversity.”
Sent out on September 21, the President’s email outlines the program. The funds will be used to not only fill open faculty positions, but to also add new faculty positions “across a broad range of disciplines.” The funds will be spread across all seven IU campuses, meaning that the program is not exclusive to IU-Bloomington.
It is currently unclear where the reallocated funds have originated, or where the external gifts are anticipated to come from. President Whitten’s email hints at a “dedicated webinar in October” that will release more details, though no specific date for the webinar has been announced at the time of this writing.
President Whitten is IU’s first female President and assumed the office on July 1, 2021. The presidential search committee that chose Whitten was characterized by IU as prioritizing minority and female candidates. Her inauguration is scheduled for November 4, 2021 at the IU Auditorium, with an inauguration celebration to take place immediately after at Showalter Fountain.
