UCHRI Receives $200,000 Advancing Faculty Diversity Grant from the UC Office of the President

The grant will support an intercampus manuscript workshop and research development program for faculty across the UC.

UCHRI has received a three-year grant to support its Manuscript Workshop and Research Development program, which expands and enhances UCHRI’s Manuscript Workshop grant. The intercampus program will serve the publication goals of early- and mid-career faculty members in the humanities and qualitative social sciences while helping them build strong networks of support in their fields and across the University of California. UCHRI worked with UC Irvine’s Office of Inclusive Excellence to develop and submit the proposal.

UCHRI has funded faculty manuscript workshops off and on since 2019-20. The latest cohort includes twelve early-career faculty from six UC campuses; AFD funding will allow us to expand the opportunity to mid-career faculty and admit twenty new fellows to next year’s cohort. Julia Lupton (UCHRI Interim Director) and Sara Černe (UCHRI Research Grants Program Director) lead the initiative; the advisory board will consist of faculty from four UC campuses and a representative from UC Press. 

In addition to funding online manuscript workshops, the program will also provide quarterly research development sessions and culminate in a writing retreat with a developmental editor. This structure advances the publication goals of individual faculty and builds new communities of concern around particular research topics, including areas that may not be fully supported by traditional departmental structures. As one former participant put it: “The award has been tremendously helpful in advancing my career as junior faculty in the UC system. The workshop itself enabled me to discuss my work at length with the invited scholars, but in doing so I developed new professional contacts.”

This opportunity is open to all UC faculty at the assistant and associate levels in the humanities and qualitative social sciences; faculty who have contributed substantively to building a culture of inclusive excellence on their campus, have encountered unexpected obstacles in completing their research, and/or are working in emergent or underserved research areas are especially encouraged to apply.