Faculty Allies for Diversity in Graduate Education
Through the Faculty Allies for Diversity initiative, Rackham Graduate School promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion within graduate programs across the University of Michigan campus. Rackham expects every department that trains graduate students to identify at least one faculty member as a Faculty Ally, who will lead efforts to strengthen DEI for graduate students and serve as the point person(s) for diversity matters in their program. As a group, Rackham Faculty Allies for Diversity partner with the graduate school to improve recruitment, admissions, climate, retention, and student success in relation to DEI. Faculty Allies play a crucial leadership role in their programs and, as a collective, advance our broader university mission to pursue diversity and excellence.
The Rackham Faculty Allies initiative provides two key forms of support for Faculty Allies and their graduate programs. First, it convenes a workshop series (with two sessions each semester) in which Faculty Allies explore—together with Rackham experts—topics such as how race structures the academy, unconscious bias, inequity in program practices and pedagogy, and strategies for dialogue across difference.
Second, the Rackham Faculty Allies initiative gives grants of up to $10,000 per year for Faculty Allies to organize and host activities, events, or programming that improve diversity, equity, and inclusion among the graduate students in their department.
There is no single set of responsibilities for the Faculty Ally role. It can include the following:
- working with program leadership to raise awareness, share concerns, and advise around diversity issues;
- providing direct support to students, serving as a formal or informal advisor around academic, professional, and/or personal issues in a safe, understanding context;
- leading and/or coordinating with diversity committees in their programs, often made up of faculty, students, and staff;
- collaborating with student organizations to gather information about program community members’ experiences and concerns;
- collaborating with various program members—program leadership, faculty, students, staff, and/or alumni—to develop diversity-related activities and innovations related to recruitment; admissions; retention and completion; and creating a high quality, inclusive climate;
- working (often in collaboration with colleagues) to develop a Faculty Allies for Diversity Grant proposal to support new ideas for enhancing diversity.
Although Faculty Allies necessarily focus their energy on their program communities, Rackham views Faculty Allies as DEI leaders at U-M and seeks to foster community among the Faculty Allies across campus. In this respect, Rackham assumes that Faculty Allies will make every effort to participate in Faculty Ally workshops to learn about effective diversity practices, as well as to exchange information, ideas, and strategies for their DEI work. The names and affiliations of the current Rackham Faculty Allies for Diversity are listed below.
To learn more about the Faculty Allies program, including becoming an Ally or nominating an Ally for your program, please contact rackfacultyallies@umich.edu.
Directory of Faculty Allies
Program | First Name | Last Name | |
---|---|---|---|
Aerospace Engineering | Timothy | Smith | timsmith@umich.edu |
American Culture | Susan | Najita | najita@umich.edu |
Ancient History | Anna | Freidin | freidin@umich.edu |
Anthropology | Damani | Partridge | djpartri@umich.edu |
Anthropology | Brian | Stewart | bastew@umich.edu |
Applied & Interdisciplinary Mathematics | Karen | Smith | kesmith@umich.edu |
Applied Physics | Cagliyan | Kurdak | kurdak@umich.edu |
Arabic Studies | Gary | Beckman | sidd@umich.edu |
Architecture | Irene | Hwang | ihwang@umich.edu |
Architecture | Zain | AbuSeir | zaina@umich.edu |
Asian Languages and Cultures | Se-Mi | Oh | smoh@umich.edu |
Astronomy and Astrophysics | Sean | Johnson | seanjoh@umich.edu |
Bioinformatics | Maureen | Sartor | sartorma@med.umich.edu |
Biological Chemistry | Kaushik | Ragunathan | ragunath@umich.edu |
Biological Chemistry | Chase | Weidmann | cweidman@umich.edu |
Biomedical Engineering | David | Nordsletten | nordslet@umich.edu |
Biostatistics | Laura | Scott | ljst@umich.edu |
Business Administration | Carolyn | Yoon | yoonc@umich.edu |
Business and Economics | Carolyn | Yoon | yoonc@umich.edu |
Business, Ross School of | Bradley | Killaly | killaly@umich.edu |
Cancer Biology | Corey | Speers | cspeers@umich.edu |
Cancer Biology | Maria | Castro | mariacas@med.umich.edu |
Cell and Developmental Biology | Mara | Duncan | mcduncan@umich.edu |
Cellular & Molecular Biology | Benjamin | Allen | benallen@umich.edu |
Chemical Biology | Alison | Narayan | arhardin@umich.edu |
Chemistry | Stephen | Maldonado | smald@umich.edu |
Civil and Environmental Engineering | Henry | Liu | henryliu@umich.edu |
Classical Studies | Nicola | Terrenato | terrenat@umich.edu |
Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering | Michael | Liemohn | liemohn@umich.edu |
Clinical Pharmacy Translational Sciences | Karen | Farris | kfarris@umich.edu |
Clinical Research | Vicki | Ellingrod | vellingr@umich.edu |
Combined Program in Education and Psychology | Rona | Carter | ronac@umich.edu |
Communication and Media | Sonya | Dal Cin | sdalcin@umich.edu |
Communication and Media | Brian | Weeks | beweeks@umich.edu |
Comparative Literature | Christi | Merrill | merrillc@umich.edu |
Computer Science and Engineering | Quentin | Stout | qstout@umich.edu |
Computer Science and Engineering | Westely | Weimer | weimerw@umich.edu |
Creative Writing | Van | Jordan | avjordan@umich.edu |
Data Science | Ivo | Dinov | dinov@umich.edu |
Dentistry | Vesa | Kaartinen | vesak@umich.edu |
Dentistry Master's Programs | Todd | Ester | tvester@umich.edu |
Dentistry Master's Programs | Elisabeta | Karl | ekarlz@umich.edu |
Dermatology | Naomi | Briones | nbriones@med.umich.edu |
Dermatology | Kelly | Reynolds | kelreyno@umich.edu |
Design Science | Nigel | Melville | npmelv@umich.edu |
Earth and Environmental Sciences | Selena | Smith | sysmith@umich.edu |
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | Tom | Duda | tfduda@umich.edu |
Economics | Justin | Wolfers | jwolfers@umich.edu |
Educational Studies | Carla | O'Connor | coconnor@umich.edu |
Electrical and Computer Engineering | Mark | Kushner | mjkush@umich.edu |
Electrical and Computer Engineering | Herbert | Winful | arrays@umich.edu |
English & Education | Thomas | Toon | ttoon@umich.edu |
Environment and Sustainability, School of | Ivan | Eastin | ieastin@umich.edu |
Environmental Engineering | Avery | Demond | averyd@umich.edu |
Environmental Health Sciences | Olivier | Jolliet | ojolliet@umich.edu |
Environmental Health Sciences | Deb | Watkins | debjwat@umich.edu |
Epidemiology | Belinda | Needham | needhamb@umich.edu |
Epidemiology | Sara | Adar | sadar@umich.edu |
Genetic Counseling Program | Monica | Marvin | monicama@med.umich.edu |
Germanic Languages and Literatures | Kristin | Dickinson | dickins@umich.edu |
Germanic Languages and Literatures | Megan | Ewing | mewing@umich.edu |
Health and Health Care Research | Caroline | Richardson | caroli@umich.edu |
Health Behavior and Health Education | Amy | Schulz | ajschulz@umich.edu |
Health Behavior and Health Education | Linda | Chatters | chatters@umich.edu |
Health Infrastructures and Learning Systems | Cheryl | Moyer | camoyer@umich.edu |
Health Infrastructures and Learning Systems | Zach | Landis-Lewis | zachll@umich.edu |
Health Management and Policy | Denise | Anthony | deniseum@umich.edu |
Higher Education | Lisa | Lattuca | llatt@umich.edu |
History (Doctoral) | Hitomi | Tonomura | tomitono@umich.edu |
History | Jason | Young | youngjr@umich.edu |
History of Art | David | Doris | dtdoris@umich.edu |
History of Art (Doctoral) | Rebecca | Zurier | rzurier@umich.edu |
Human Genetics | David | Burke | dtburke@umich.edu |
Immunology | Kanakadurga | Singer | ksinger@umich.edu |
Immunology | Christine | Freeman | cmfreema@umich.edu |
Industrial and Operations Engineering | Thomas | Armstrong | tja@umich.edu |
Information, School of | Nicole | Ellison | enicole@umich.edu |
Integrative Design | Franc | Nunoo-Quarcoo | fnunoo@umich.edu |
International and Regional Studies | Dan | Slater | dnsltr@umich.edu |
Kinesiology, School of | Ketra | Armstrong | ketra@umich.edu |
Kinesiology, School of | Steve | Broglio | broglio@umich.edu |
Law School | Patrick | Barry | barrypj@umich.edu |
LSA Dean's Office | Paula | Hathaway | ptrail@umich.edu |
Macromolecular Science and Engineering | Geeta | Mehta | mehtagee@umich.edu |
Materials Science and Engineering | Geeta | Mehta | mehtagee@umich.edu |
Materials Science and Engineering | Emmanouil | Kioupakis | kioup@umich.edu |
Materials Science and Engineering | Claudia | Loebel | loebelcl@umich.edu |
Mathematics | Karen | Smith | kesmith@umich.edu |
Mathematics | Jennifer | Wilson | jchw@umich.edu |
Mechanical Engineering | Serife | Tol | stol@umich.edu |
Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) | Juanita | Merchant | merchanj@umich.edu |
Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) | Elizabeth | Speliotes | espeliot@med.umich.edu |
Medicinal Chemistry | Amanda | Garner | algarner@med.umich.edu |
Microbiology and Immunology | Akira | Ono | akiraono@umich.edu |
Microbiology and Immunology | Yasmina | Laouar | ylaouar@umich.edu |
Middle East Studies | Jessie | DeGrado | jdegrado@umich.edu |
Middle East Studies | Jay | Crisostomo | cjcrisos@umich.edu |
Modern Middle Eastern & North African Studies | Ryan | Szpiech | szpiech@umich.edu |
Molecular and Integrative Physiology | Lisa | Larkin | llarkin@umich.edu |
Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology | Jayakrishnan | Nandakumar | jknanda@umich.edu |
Music, Theatre and Dance, School of (Doctoral) | Marie | McCarthy | mfmcc@umich.edu |
Music, Theatre and Dance, School of (Doctoral) | Louise | Stein | lkstein@umich.edu |
Music, Theatre and Dance, School of (Doctoral) | David | Jackson | trombone@umich.edu |
Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering | Maani | Ghaffari | maanigj@umich.edu |
Neuroscience | Keith | Duncan | rkduncan@umich.edu |
Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences | John | Foster | jefoster@umich.edu |
Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences | Carolyn | Kuranz | ckuranz@umich.edu |
Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences | Ryan | McBride | mcbrider@umich.edu |
Nursing, School of | Patricia | Coleman-Burns | pcb@umich.edu |
Nursing, School of | Rushika | Patel | rushika@umich.edu |
Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences | Shahzad | Mian | smian@umich.edu |
Pharmaceutical Sciences | Anna | Schwendeman | annaschw@umich.edu |
Pharmacology | Alan | Smrcka | avsmrcka@med.umich.edu |
Philosophy | Ishani | Maitra | imaitra@umich.edu |
Philosophy | Laura | Ruetsche | ruetsche@umich.edu |
Physics | Roy | Clarke | royc@umich.edu |
Political Science | Rob | Mickey | rmickey@umich.edu |
Program in Biomedical Sciences | Scott | Barolo | sbarolo@umich.edu |
Psychology | Kevin | Cokley | kcokley@umich.edu |
Public Policy, Ford School of | Natasha | Pilkauskas | npilkaus@umich.edu |
Robotics | Brent | Gillespie | brentg@umich.edu |
Romance Languages and Literatures | Teresa | Satterfield | tsatter@umich.edu |
Scientific Computing | Ken | Powell | powell@umich.edu |
Slavic Languages and Literatures | Sofya | Khagi | skhagi@umich.edu |
Social Work and Social Science | Addie | Weaver | weaverad@umich.edu |
Sociology | Al | Young | ayoun@umich.edu |
Statistics | Ben | Hansen | bbh@umich.edu |
Statistics | Stilian | Stoev | sstoev@umich.edu |
Survey and Data Science | Sunghee | Lee | sungheel@umich.edu |
Toxicology | Thomas | Robins | trobins@umich.edu |
Urban and Regional Planning | Larissa | Larsen | larissal@umich.edu |
Women's and Gender Studies | Charlotte | Karem Albrecht | charka@umich.edu |
Women's and Gender Studies | Ava | Purkiss | apurkiss@umich.edu |