Purpose

The UMass Lowell Award for Excellence in promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) recognizes exemplar faculty who work collaboratively to build a more diverse, inclusive and equitable climate at UMass Lowell. The University is committed to creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive learning and working environment that nurtures the growth and development of our learners, faculty, and staff. By embracing diversity, UMass Lowell (UML) will attract and retain skilled and talented faculty and learners dedicated to excellence in education, research, community and global initiatives.


Eligibility

  • The nominee must be a full-time faculty member at UMass Lowell and currently in a tenure, teaching, or clinical-track position. Self-nominations are welcome.
  • Nominations should clearly demonstrate how the individual has led an effort, initiative, or project to build greater diversity, inclusion, and equity in areas including but not limited to:
    • Efforts to create a diverse, inclusive, and equitable educational and work environment
    • Efforts to advance equal access to education among diverse populations
    • Efforts to strategically support minoritized and underserved populations

Criteria for Award

  • Significantly promote diversity, inclusion and cultural competency development among the UMass Lowell community
  • Address key areas of diversity and inclusion such as recruitment, retention, campus/department climate, research, clinical practice or community outreach;
  • Lead initiatives in capturing outcomes of increased awareness, understanding or promoting diversity
  • Promoting diversity education and communication ideas
  • Demonstrated commitment to inclusive pedagogy and/or DEI-related curricular developments

Application Process

Any full-time faculty member may nominate a colleague or themselves for this award. The deadline for applications is March 25, 2024. All submissions must be made online through InfoReady. The submission package must include in a single PDF document:

  • the applicant’s current curriculum vitae;
  • a short statement (500-1,000 words) describing the applicant’s DEI philosophy when working with students, the impact on students, and how the applicant meets the award criteria;
  • three letters of support that contain specific examples of the applicant’s activities that are aligned with the review criteria:
    • a letter from the nominator or, in the case of a self-nomination, a letter from a colleague familiar with the nominee’s mentoring contributions.
    • two letters from students – the letters can be from current student(s) or former student(s) who graduated from UML within the past five years.
    • Note: A single individual may write no more than one support letter for each award category.

The Faculty Excellence Committee will meet to review the nominations and make a recommendation to the Provost or designee.


Award Winner

The winner of this award will be announced in April 2024. The winner will be invited to present a lightning talk on their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives at the Fall 2024 Faculty Symposium. The winner will also receive a $1,000 award.

For questions, please email: Faculty_Success@uml.edu.

The Faculty Excellence Committee embraces and celebrates diversity in all its forms and encourages individuals from underrepresented populations to apply or to nominate others for these awards.