UC San Diego FIRST Program

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Abstract A diverse faculty body enhances scientific discovery. Despite efforts to increase diversity, women, persons with disabilities, and individuals from certain racial /ethnic groups remain underrepresented in the biomedical workforce. Diversifying biomedicalresearch faculty is an ongoing challenge and a high-priority need. There are also barriers to retention of underrepresented faculty and success which can include a lack of clarity around promotion criteria, effective mentorship and formalfaculty development programs as well as perceptions of unwelcoming institutional cultures and a lack of inclusivity. Thus, multiple evidence-based strategies are needed to enhance faculty diversity, success and inclusion. Cluster hiring at academic institutions is an effective strategy for enhancing faculty diversity. This strategy coupled with formal structured faculty mentorship, research and career development programs improvefaculty competencies, enable success and can impact organizational culture. Transforming institutional culture requires organized programs led by experienced faculty, administrators, staff, and institutional leaders, with a shared vision of enhancing faculty diversity and inclusion. Such programs also require institutional support and resources to ensure sustainability. The overall goal of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST) Administrative Core is to provide strategic leadership, management, and administrative oversight to support the UCSD FIRST Cohort Program’s evidence-based strategies to recruit twelve new faculty, enhance FIRST participants’ academic advancement, research success, and inclusive institutional excellence. We hypothesize that cluster hires within four areas of institutionalresearch strength, neurosciences, cancer, cardiovascular disease, infectious disease and immunology, will provide affinity groups as the nidus of inclusive excellence. Immersion in structured programs organized by theFaculty Development Core will provide direction in academic promotion resulting in enhanced retention and academic success. We propose four specific aims: Aim 1. Provide management and coordination to support theadministrative, communication, and fiscal components of the FIRST Cohort Program, Aim 2. Establish and implement protocols for search, recruitment, and hiring of FIRST Cohort, Aim 3. Promote FIRST cohort faculty impactful research productivity to meet retention expectations and Aim 4. Implement strategic plan to foster institutional inclusive excellence and culture transformation. Working with the Evaluation Core, the AdministrativeCore will leverage existing data on faculty perceptions of the research environment and faculty development to establish metrics for the “baseline” and successful cultural transformation. These aims will promote UCSD culture change towards inclusive excellence by using evidence-based strategies to enhance underrepresented faculty academic advancement, research and career development, integration and implementation of system-wide structured faculty development programs to enhance inclusivity.