SUBJECT:

2017-2018 Request for Proposals for the UC-HBCU Initiative

The UC Office of the President has announced the 2017-2018 Request for Proposals for the UC-HBCU Initiative. As you may recall, this is a system-wide initiative designed to assist UC faculty interested in developing and encouraging efforts to achieve a more inclusive educational environment of excellence. The goal of the UC-HBCU Initiative is to increase the number of scholars from Historically Black Colleges and Universities enrolling in UC academic doctoral programs. UC faculty grants are available to support HBCU students conducting summer research with faculty at UC San Diego. Funds are also available to support departmental efforts that facilitate increased applications from HBCU scholars to UC graduate programs.

Again this year, Principal Investigators may include 1/9 summer salary to help support their efforts during the summer(s) in which the projects are active. These funds are being provided by each of the chancellors as a commitment to valuing faculty diversity work at their campus. We hope this will facilitate faculty continuing to undertake this important work to strengthen UC.

We encourage you to write a proposal for this important initiative. Please know that the Graduate Division stands ready to support you in proposal preparation, and in providing an infrastructure for your summer program. Proposals are due Thursday, March 15, 2018 at 12:00 pm PT, and awards will be announced in June 2018. Details on the call for proposals and a helpful PowerPoint tutorial for faculty who may be interested in applying can be found on the UC-HBCU website:
http://www.ucop.edu/uc-hbcu-initiative/faculty-grants/index.html

To hear from UC faculty who are currently involved with the UC-HBCU Initiative, please view this short video on the UC-HBCU website:
http://www.ucop .edu/uc-hbcu-initiative/index.html

At UC San Diego there are two separate UC-HBCU grants in progress under the supervision of Dr. Gentry Patrick (awarded in 2015) and Dr. James Nieh (awarded in 2017). This past year, over 15 UC-HBCU students were hosted on the UC San Diego campus for summer research, and we are proud to note that one participant from Dr. Patrick's initiative started their doctoral studies in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department in Fall 2017. This brings the total number of UC-HBCU initiative students to eight at UC San Diego.

Faculty participation in this initiative is an example of activity in direct support of UC Appointment and Promotion review and appraisal criteria as established in the Academic Personnel Manual: APM 210 - http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/committees/u caade/ apm210.pdf

Likewise, faculty participation in this effort is congruent with the Diversity Statement, adopted as policy by the UC Regents in 2007:
http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/governance/policies/440 0 .html

Do not hesitate to contact Dean of the Graduate Division, Kit Pogliano at graduatedean@ucsd.edu or Assistant Dean April Bjornsen at abjornsen@ucsd.edu if you have further questions.

Elizabeth H. Simmons Executive Vice Chancellor Becky Petitt Vice Chancellor - Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Kit Pogliano Dean Graduate Division