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The university will establish a new career award, administered by the National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID), to celebrate and honor faculty whose scholarship has contributed significantly to our understanding or appreciation of groups that have traditionally been understudied. Primary goals of this award will be to build a more robust body of knowledge and teaching in these areas, elevate these research foci nationally, and provide important recognition to scholars whose work may have been undervalued in the past.
Year Four Progress
In 2017, the U-M established the James S. Jackson Distinguished Career Award for Diversity Scholarship and named for its first recipient – and whose passing on September 1, 2020 was a major loss to our community. The award is bestowed biennially on faculty members who have made significant contributions to understanding diversity and addressing disparities in contemporary society. The recipient of the 2019 award was Dr. Patricia Gurin, the Nancy Cantor Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Psychology and Women’s Studies. A social psychologist, Dr. Gurin’s work has focused on social identity, the role of social identity in political attitudes and behavior, motivation and cognition in achievement settings, and the role of social structure in intergroup relations.
The author of eight books and monographs as well as numerous articles, Dr. Gurin served as an expert witness in the U-M’s defense of its undergraduate and Law School admissions policies. She is nationally recognized as a leader, scholar, teacher, mentor, and activist.
In November 2019, Dr. Gurin presented a lecture entitled “Collectivity, Community, and Connections in the Pursuit of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” to a standing-room-only audience. A celebratory dinner following the lecture included guests from across the country—a combination of colleagues, collaborators, former students/mentees, mentors, institutional leaders and others who came to pay tribute to Dr. Gurin.
Continuing the biennial award process, nominations for the 2021 award will be accepted this year, and a recipient will be selected by Summer 2021.
Responsibility: National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID)