Nine new proposals have been selected by UNC Charlotte’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion to receive spring 2023 Inclusive Excellence Grants for their potential to advance diversity, promote equity and foster inclusion throughout Charlotte and the surrounding community. Proposals submitted by faculty and staff are designed to address ideas related to diversity education and training; faculty, staff and student recruitment or retention; institutional excellence in policy and practice; or cultural programming.
“Inclusive Excellence grants, which range from $2,000 to $10,000, play a critical role in UNC Charlotte’s ability to lead in equity and engagement,” said Brandon Wolfe, chief diversity and inclusion officer. “The wide and creative range of projects underway highlight the deep well of innovative and progressive ideas at our institution that are pushing the boundaries of inquiry, research and discovery in and out of the classroom.”
Applications for fall 2023 Inclusive Excellence Grants are due March 14. Read about spring 2023 Inclusive Excellence Grants and their project teams composed of faculty, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students from across the University:
Alternative Service Break
Mikala Harvey, Jennifer Pittman, Tayla Suitte
This project aims to grow the University’s Alternative Service Break (ASB), an immersive service experience where students forgo traditional spring break activities to engage in service in a community outside their own, and to make the program more accessible and affordable. Through a variety of service-centered projects, students learn about new cultures, social issues and how to be an active citizen.
Black Families Housing Insecurity Summit
Kendra Jason, Janaka Lewis, Candace Brown
A one-day summit will convene people and organizations around Charlotte to present research and exchange knowledge toward addressing the housing crisis and lack of social mobility for Black women and families.
Charlotte Research Experiences in STEM Program
David Pugalee, Victor Mack, Alisa Wickliff
The Charlotte Research Experiences in STEM Program will incorporate lessons learned over its 20-year history, and expand faculty, staff and student involvement at UNC Charlotte to restore opportunities once provided by the former North Carolina Mathematics & Science Education Network (NC-MSEN).
Eighth Annual Feminist Decolonial Politics Workshop
Elisabeth Paquette
The Feminist Decolonial Politics Workshop, which offers theoretical and practical venues for engagement with diverse forms of knowledge production within academic disciplines, will provide opportunities for graduate students and junior scholars from underrepresented groups in various disciplines. It will also create study spaces for theorists who have been marginalized within their disciplines.
Music Residency with hip-hop producers
Hunter Kopczynski
An artist residency between Your Neighborhood Orchestra and the UNC Charlotte Wind Ensemble will culminate in a concert at the Charlotte Art League. With musicians from the Charlotte Symphony, professional freelance musicians and local hip-hop producers, classical and jazz will fuse into hip-hop beats. In addition, a collaboration among professional musicians, composers and hip-hop producers will include students from the University’s wind ensemble.
Our Inside Pen Pals: Exploring Social Justice through Interdisciplinary Critical Service-Learning
Lucy Arnold
Faculty interested in exploring their disciplines through a social justice lens will facilitate a pen pal program between University students and incarcerated persons across the United States, building the service-learning pen pal project into their courses. Training will be available for faculty as will logistical support for the project through a partnership with Prison Abolition Prisoner Support.
Promoting Inclusive Practices in Social Work Field Education and Community
Frances Ferrante-Fusilli, Ticola C. Ross, Sonyia Richardson, Beth Auten, Bridgette Sanders
The School of Social Work will partner with the Race and Social Equity Academy and Atkins Library to support students and field instructors in advancing antiracism and diversity and equity practices through a community forum and integrative workshop. Students and their field instructors identify how to implement inclusive practices in field education and community settings.
Rise Together: UNC Charlotte Students Joining Hands to Build an Equitable Future for Low-Income School Children in the Charlotte Area
Arun Vishnu Suresh Babu, Alison Sears, Kamia Smith, Kyra Taylor
Engineering student competition teams, student organizations and capstone project teams will work with Rise Together to help bridge the education gap for students who attend local K-12 Title I schools through supplemental education activities in spring 2023.
STEM with UNC Charlotte: After-School Visits with Hand-on STEM Projects
Alison Sears, Christopher Green, Michelle Prasad
The UNC Charlotte Engineering Technology and Construction Management Department’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (ETCM DEI) will introduce pre-college students from Title I schools in Charlotte to STEM opportunities through after-school activity nights.