UNLV strengthened its commitment to diversity with the recent announcement of the Institutional Development Grants (IDG) awards for 2007--10 faculty-led projects focused on enhancing the university's diversity research, programming and community outreach efforts.
More than 25 UNLV faculty and staff are represented in the 10 proposals chosen for funding, which have been combined by theme into two categories: the Research Center for the Study of Race, Class and Social Justice; and the Institute for Multicultural Education and Diversity Training. A strong response to proposals from faculty prompted UNLV President David B. Ashley to double the original funding for the grants from $150,000 to $300,000.
Combining the multiple projects into a center and institute gives faculty the opportunity to collaborate, prioritize research, and reinvest research results to sustain and further develop diversity initiatives on campus.
The research center will provide a venue for research focused on race and class in a social justice context. It will include inquiry and analysis on issues of color, ethnicity, immigration, language and employment, and will allow researchers to share resources, knowledge, and even collaborate to attract external funding. The center will be coordinated by William S. Boyd School of Law Professor Sylvia Lazos, College of Education visiting Professor Sonya Horsford and diversity programming manager Elaina Bhattacharyya.
The institute will focus on diversity training, education and multicultural curriculum development. It will also include cultural competency training and English as second language training for PK-16 teachers. The institute is under the direction of College of Education professors Porter Troutman and Edith Rusch, and Student Diversity Programs and Services assistant director Randy McCrillis.
"Both the research center and the institute are designed to become elite, national models of outstanding diversity work in higher education," said UNLV Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Christine Clark. "This will happen by engaging in broad-reaching research and education that is in the public interest--that is dedicated to solving problems, not merely studying or discussing them, to fully integrate theory with practice."
The IDG is designed to fund projects that are institutional priorities for educational and research advancement. The funding provided the resources to develop the center and institute, which will also require the approval of the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents to be formally established.
For more information, including a full list of recipients and a detailed description of the projects, please visit http://president.unlv.edu/idg/.
