Emerging Scholars Program Fund Recipients and Great Topics Program for 2021-22

Seven BU Academic Departments Will Support Underrepresented, Early-Career Scholars

On Wednesday, March 24, 2021, Boston University Diversity & Inclusion (BU D&I) announced the seven departmental recipients of Emerging Scholars Program funds in the 2021-2022 academic year (listed alphabetically):

  1. The Department of Anthropology, two Emerging Scholars Programs (College of Arts and Sciences)
  2. The Department of Biology (College of Arts and Sciences)
  3. The Department of Biomedical Engineering (College of Engineering)
  4. The Department of Earth and Environment (College of Arts and Sciences)
  5. The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (College of Engineering)
  6. The Department of History in partnership with BU African American Studies Program (College of Arts and Sciences)

In spring 2019, University Provost and Chief Academic Officer Dr. Jean Morrison announced the launch of  two key initiatives intended to increase diversity within BU’s faculty: The University Scholars Program and The Target of Opportunity Program. As part of the University Scholars Program, which seeks to normalize inclusion of underrepresented scholars in academia, the Emerging Scholars Program is overseen by BU D&I and provides funds to BU departments to support individuals or groups of emerging scholars from historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, through various means, such as single-day symposia, multiple-day mini conferences, or multiple-day visits.

Now in its second year, the Emerging Scholars Program is meant to host scholars who are not yet formally on the job market, are in postdoctoral fellowships, or in rare cases, are in assistant professorships. This program is designed for academic departments that are interested in hearing what new forms of inquiry have emerged in their field and are seeking to diversify future potential faculty search pools. The Emerging Scholars Program is also ideal for departments that might engage a target of opportunity mechanism for an existing line or departments that are eager to deepen their networks among and connections to scholars from underrepresented groups, particularly in advance of a retirement and/or a faculty search request.

BU’s Department of History and the African American Studies Program Co-host Great Topics Program Symposium

In addition to receiving Emerging Scholars Program funds, BU’s Department of History and the African American Studies Program will co-host a Great Topics Program symposium in spring 2022. The two-day gathering will address the role of universities in the establishment and perpetuation of racial inequalities and white supremacy, proposing approaches for righting past injustices in academic research, teaching, and built environments. Also part of the University Scholars Program initiatives to diversify BU faculty, the Great Topics Program is overseen by BU D&I and provides funds to departments to host important, bold, and beyond-the-typical conversations among leading thinkers and makers about issues explicitly related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. These conversations are meant to spark important dialogues of national importance that bring prominence to BU and that might inform not only the thinking on these issues, but future actions and outcomes. 

Calls for proposals to receive University Scholars Program funds for the 2022-2023 academic year will begin in fall 2021. Click here for more information about BU D&I’s faculty diversity initiatives. Please reach out to Megan Segoshi, BU D&I Manager of Faculty Diversity Initiatives, at msegoshi@bu.edu with questions about these initiatives.