The University of Maryland, College Park, is pledging $40 million in the next decade to enhance diversity in accordance with the school administration’s aim to combat racism and improve campus culture.
The program is titled the Faculty Advancement at Maryland for Inclusive Learning and Excellence, and funds will go toward hiring more than 100 faculty members from diverse backgrounds, according to a school press release.
“This is our time to reinvent our university,” said Darryll Pines, who was recently inaugurated as the 34th president of the university.
“This is the time to examine the future of learning to enhance the student experience, the future of work for faculty and staff to reach a new level of excellence, and a new model of research to accelerate and advance science and human understanding,” Pines added.
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The FAMILE program will seek to boost leadership development opportunities, retention, and recruitment among staff.
“We feel we are not right-sized for the diverse student body that we have,” Pines said.
Over 40% of students enrolled last year are people of color, according to data from the university. Nearly 56% of the school’s faculty are white.
The program “should help” the increasing number of diverse students on campus “see faculty that look like them and reflects where they came from,” Pines said.
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He also suggested that he anticipates students of color will become the majority on campus in the next few years.
