Morehouse College
Project Title
For support for a model faculty development program for historically black colleges and universities
Date
Sep. 12, 2019
Duration
48 months
Description
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) consistently outperform other institutions in graduation rates and doctoral degree attainment for students of color. However, many HBCU’s struggle to attract and retain the exceptional professors needed to provide students with teaching and mentorship. Due to financial constraints, HBCUs require faculty to maintain higher teaching loads and take on more administrative work than other universities. HBCUs also suffer from a lack of funding for scholarly research, which puts faculty at a disadvantage in gaining tenure. For these reasons, many have chosen to work at institutions with more resources to support scholarship. With support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Carnegie Corporation, three colleges—Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Prairie View A&M University—will launch a faculty development program that aims to serve as a model for all HBCUs. Each institution will establish a faculty development center; provide course releases for mid-level professors in order to meet scholarly goals; offer start-up package to incentivize new hires; increase sabbatical support; and provide travel funds for research and development. Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Prairie View A&M University will collaborate on their individual efforts to ensure faculty benefit from all practices developed through this initiative.