Dear Colleagues,
As we welcome summer's arrival, we are reflecting on the 2020-21 academic year. Along with the global pandemic, our faculty, staff and students had to grapple with racial, ethnic, and religious hate and engage in difficult conversations.
In response to the pandemic, the Office of Faculty Development and Diversity expanded its programming to support faculty managing this challenging year, and looked for ways to mitigate some of the impacts of the pandemic, especially for our untenured faculty. For faculty whose research was impacted by the pandemic, the Re-Energizing Faculty Research Engaging and Success (REFRESH) was created to provide grant and book writing support. This program is supported by the colleges and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation, and managed by these offices alongside OFDD. We also partnered with the Division of Human Resources to adapt the dependent care COVID backup fund.
In addition to these programs, the tenure clock was extended by one year for assistant professors joining Cornell in the Summer or Fall 2020. For those starting at Cornell in the Winter 2021, there is a six-month extension. Details are available here.
Faculty and academic staff engaged all year in intergroup dialogue and similar conversations confronting hate and racism. More than 500 Cornell community members attended a teach-in on Confronting Anti-Asian Racism. The OFDD website has resources about race and anti-racism to encourage conversations among faculty, students and staff.
As we emerge from a most difficult year, we look forward to continuing to support our faculty, and welcome your recommendations for programs and workshops to hold in 2021-2022. Please send your suggestions to [email protected].
Enjoy the summer,
Avery August
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
Yael Levitte
Associate Vice Provost for Faculty
Development and Diversity
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Continuing OFDD's Programs On-Line |
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Ease of virtual programs bolsters attendance |
The Office of Faculty and Development and Diversity (OFDD) plans to continue holding programs for faculty and academic staff programs on Zoom in Fall 2021, in addition to some events in-person.
"Our virtual programs are well received and we saw increased engagement because of the ease of attendance," said Yael Levitte, Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity.
During 2020-21, OFDD held more than 50 sessions on Zoom for faculty and academic staff.
OFDD offered several workshops, including It Depends on the Lens, for faculty serving on search committees. Led by Levitte, the workshop recommend practices for faculty search committees to diversify candidate pools, avoid cognitive bias and engage in effective searches. Faculty search committee members are required to attend this program, in response to the recommendations of the Provost's Task Force to Enhance Faculty Diversity.
Another program for faculty search committees, Effective Academic Interviewing, uses a video created by the Cornell Interactive Theatre Ensemble to illustrate situations that can arise during the interview process. Levitte facilitates a discussion about the impact the various scenarios may have on the candidates as well as the department and the institution. Topics discussed include legal boundaries, procedures and policies. Both It Depends on the Lens and Effective Academic Interviewing will be held again this Fall.
Other popular programs this year include Ableism in Education, led by Zebadiah Hall, director of Student Disability Services; and Managing Conflict and Difficult Conversations, run by Jim Sheridan, Training and Organizational Specialist with the Division of Human Resources, and Dane Cruz, director of the Cornell Interactive Theatre Ensemble.
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Mark Lewis, Jamila Michener Win Diversity Award |
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Mark Lewis, Director,
School of Operations Research and Information Engineering, and the Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Engineering, College of Engineering
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Jamila Michener,
Associate Professor
Department of Government
College of Arts and Sciences
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The annual award recognizes their transformational and sustained impacts on diversity, reflected in their teaching, research and service. Based on nominations from faculty, staff and students, the award comes with a $15,000 prize.
Lewis has held several leadership roles at Cornell. He was associate dean followed by senior associate dean for faculty development and diversity from 2015-2020 in the College of Engineering. During his tenure, the college reached gender parity in undergraduate enrollment and increased to 22.5 percent the number of women faculty members. He also chaired the Provost's Task Force to Enhance Faculty Diversity from 2017-2018.
Michener's research focuses on poverty, racial inequality and public policy in the U.S. In her first book, Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism and Unequal Politics, she describes how the unequal distribution of Medicaid benefits --based on where a recipient lives as opposed to their healthcare needs -- exacerbates inequality and dampens beneficiaries' interest in participatory democracy. She regularly speaks at universities around the country, serves on dozens of academic and nonacademic advisory boards, co-directs the Cornell Center for Health Equity, and chairs the Cornell Prison Education Advisory Board.
Students praised Lewis and Michener for noticing them beyond their academic pursuits. Additional details about their accomplishments are in the Cornell Chronicle.
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OFDD Launches New Writing Accountability Program |
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More than 70 Cornell faculty members, across all disciplines and colleges, joined the new writing accountability program, Making Time to Write, this spring.
Held on Zoom, the three-hour-long sessions encouraged faculty to carve time out of their weekly schedule to write. Each session kicked-off with participants sharing their writing plans for the session. They reconvened during short breaks and at the end of the session when they discussed whether they achieved their goals, and announced their intentions for the coming week.
"Being in the program has kept my productivity up during this (challenging) semester—I was able to submit two manuscripts to journals and also learn and share resources, best practices, and tips with the accountability group each week," said Shorna Allred, associate professor in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment.
Facilitators Ananda Cohen-Aponte, Durba Ghosh, Yael Levitte, Corinna Loeckenhoff, Patrick O'Grady, and Derrick Spires encouraged faculty in their groups to show up and write.
Making Time to Write is running again this summer; about 60 faculty members are participating. OFDD also plans to offer the program every semester going forward.
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Tools Available to Advance a Diverse Faculty
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Hosted by Texas Tech University, The Registry publicizes positions open to tenure track faculty. If your Department is seeking to broaden its pool of applicants, contact the Office of Faculty Development and Diversity @ [email protected] for information on how to advertise a position on The Registry.
Cornell also is a member of the Faculty Advancement Network, a new consortium of the IVY plus national research universities aimed at advancing diversity in the American professoriate. FAN offers tools to engage on such topics as race and racism, impact of COVID-19 on the progress of underrepresented faculty and mentoring new faculty.
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Schwartz Grants Support Research in the Life Sciences |
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Tashara Leak
Assistant Professor
Division of
Nutritional Sciences
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Atieh Moridi
Assistant Professor Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
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Tory Hendry
Assistant Professor Department of Microbiology
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Three faculty members conducting research in the life sciences received the annual Schwartz Research Fund for Women and Other Underrepresented Faculty in the Life Sciences.
This year's awardees are Tashara Leak, assistant professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, College of Human Ecology; Atieh Moridi, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering; and Tory Hendry, assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Endowed by Ronald H. Schwartz '65 and Joan Poyner Schwartz '65, the annual grants support female and other underrepresented scientists engaged in innovative and creative research in the life sciences.
Details about Leak's, Moridi's and Hendry's research are discussed in the Cornell Chronicle.
“We appreciate Ron and Joan Schwartz for their continued support of faculty conducting innovative research” said Yael Levitte, associate vice provost for faculty development and diversity.
Applications for the 2022 awards will be available this fall.
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Special Events and Programs |
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Isabelle Wilkerson Addresses Cornell in Fall 2020 |
Pulitzer Prize winning author Isabelle Wilkerson addressed the Cornell community in her talk, Our Racial Moment of Truth, on Oct. 21.
Her recent book, Caste, compares racial stratification in the U.S. to a caste system.
“Like other old houses, America has an unseen skeleton, a caste system that is as central to its operation as are the studs and joists that we cannot see in the physical buildings we call home,” Wilkerson said, reading from her bestselling new book, “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.”
This lecture was sponsored by the Cornell Center for Social Sciences, Migrations Global Grand Challenge and OFDD.
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Cornell Faculty Participate in Panel Discussion about Film Highlighting Harassment of Female Scientists |
The award-winning film, Picture a Scientist, chronicling the experiences of three women researchers and their efforts to make science more equitable, diverse and open to all was shown to the Cornell community from April 16-18.
Following the screening, a panel discussion was held April 19. Moderated by Cynthia Leifer, professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, the panelists were:
- Hector Aguilar-Carreno, associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology;
- Lauren Branchini, Deputy Title IX coordinator;
- Kelly Kryc, Director of Ocean Policy, New England Aquarium;
- Christopher Lujan, Associate Dean of Students and Director of LGBT Resource Center;
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Corrie Moreau, Martha N. and John C. Moser Professor of Arthropod Biosystematics and Biodiversity, in the Department of Entomology; and
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Marjolein van der Meulen, James M. and Marsha McCormick Director of Biomedical Engineering and Swanson Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Panelists discussed ways to approach bias and harassment in academic environments, how to practice allyship, and strategies to drive systemic and structural change within and beyond Cornell.
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OFDD sponsors programs to enrich faculty's experience at Cornell. Listed on our website under Upcoming Faculty Events, OFDD programs include unconscious bias training for faculty search committees, mentoring opportunities for junior faculty, grant writing, media training, and other topics. If there's a program or training session you would like us to hold, please email [email protected].
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