University Diversity & Social Transformation Professorship

Nominations & Selection Process

Nomination portal opens Winter 2025

Eligibility

The UDSTP is open to all senior tenured instructional, clinical, and research faculty (associate or full professors) at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor who are at least 12 years post-completion of their terminal degree.

Source of Nominations

Candidates for UDSTPs must be nominated by the dean of their U-M school or college.

Schools and colleges have a limit on the number of nominations they can submit each nomination cycle:

  • The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts may make up to 3 internal and 3 external nominations.
  • Michigan Medicine may make up to 3 internal and 3 external nominations.
  • The College of Engineering may make up to 2 internal and 2 external nominations.
  • All other Schools and Colleges, each may make 1 internal and 1 external nomination.

Selection Process

There will be separate selection processes for internal versus external candidates. For both internal and external candidates, nominations will be evaluated by selection committees coordinated by the University of Michigan Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI), and the National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID). The committee will select a set of recommended nominees and forward them to the Provost’s Office. The Provost will submit final recommendations to the Board of Regents for approval.

Selection Criteria

The UDSTP was established to honor senior faculty who have throughout their careers demonstrated a commitment to the University’s ideals of DEI through their scholarship, teaching, and/or service and engagement. The faculty committee reviewing these nominations will be from a wide-range of disciplines across the University. As such, nominations should be written for a general academic audience, describing the nature of the work as it impacts diversity, equity, and/or inclusion, as well as its importance and impact, particularly as it is situated in their disciplinary context. The significance of accolades, awards, or distinctions mentioned also should be described so that readers can better understand the scope and magnitude of their accomplishments.

The strongest letters of support will articulate the ways in which the nominee has been a leader in making significant and sustained efforts around DEI; efforts that have resulted in programmatic and transformative local, national and/or international impact. Importantly, their particular accomplishments in the research, teaching, and/or service arenas should be directly tied to the impact the work has had on diversity, equity, and/or inclusion.

Questions may be directed to [email protected].

Internal Candidates

Internal candidates must have an active tenured appointment in one of the schools and colleges on the Ann Arbor campus. These faculty must have outstanding portfolios with strong evidence of demonstrated achievement in promoting the values of DEI within their field and/or their university home(s). For faculty with budgeted appointments in multiple units, a nomination is needed only from one unit that is a tenured home. However, a brief statement in support of the nomination from the other budgeted unit is highly recommended.

Complete nominations for internal candidates consist of the following: 

  1. A detailed statement of nomination from the dean detailing the candidate’s qualifications for the UDSTP (see “selection criteria” above for more information) and the unit’s commitment to provide at least one semester leave for NCID Faculty Fellow in-residence status;
  2. Statement of support from the other budgeted unit (if applicable);
  3. the candidate’s current CV; and
  4. at least 1, and no more than 3, letters of support from other faculty members in support of the nomination.

External Candidates

Given the length of senior faculty recruitment seasons across schools and colleges, a distinct process is in place for the nomination of external candidates. Complete nominations for external candidates consist of the following:

  1. A detailed statement of nomination from the dean detailing the candidate’s qualifications for the UDSTP (see “selection criteria” above for more information) and the unit’s commitment to provide at least one semester leave for NCID Faculty Fellow in-residence status, and
  2. the candidate’s current CV.