Trustees Luncheon Celebrates Junior and Mid-Career Faculty Awardees
Trustees join junior and mid-career faculty grant awardees and university leaders for a celebratory luncheon.
On June 1, junior and mid-career faculty funded by the Office of the Provost joined Columbia University leaders for a celebratory luncheon. Hosted by the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement, the event provided a unique opportunity for recipients of the Junior and Mid-Career Grants Programs for Faculty who Contribute to the Diversity Goals of the University to discuss their research with University Trustees and with their peers.
An Opportunity for Connection
Originally conceived in collaboration with Trustee Claire Shipman, this event fosters connections between faculty from across Columbia’s campuses and often sparks enduring relationships. This year’s attendees represented fields as diverse as medicine, computer science, sociology, English, neuroscience, and environmental engineering.
Trustees Keith Goggin, Mark Gallogly, and Kathy Surace-Smith attended this sixth annual event, along with Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement and EVP for University Life Dennis Mitchell. This year’s reception also included recipients of the Mid-Career Faculty Grant, a complementary program offered once per year to tenured faculty who contribute to Columbia’s diversity efforts through scholarship, teaching, and mentoring.
Funding Research Opportunities for Faculty
Offered twice per year, the Junior Faculty grants program offers awards of up to $30,000 to early-career untenured faculty who have demonstrated a commitment to diversity in their research, teaching, or mentoring activities. Funds can be used to support research assistance, computational resources, procurement of research materials, professional development, equipment, supplies, or travel to scholarly meetings or to conduct research. Since the program’s inception in 2012, the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement has funded approximately 220 projects.
Faculty Awardees in their Own Words
FACULTY AWARDEE:
Bianca Jones Marlin, PhD
Faculty of Arts and Sciences and
Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute
"There is a mutual understanding that although we are all individuals furthering our research programs, our research programs are influenced by each other and the passion that we have for the questions we are answering at Columbia and abroad. We all concluded, in taking advice and giving advice, that we're part of a larger motivation to change the face of Columbia and science as a whole."
FACULTY AWARDEE:
Dante Donati, Columbia Business School
"I study whether individuals can have healthy conversations on social media platforms regarding topics that are politically divisive. In particular, I will consider posts on racial discrimination and analyze the online conversation that people have on this topic on Facebook and Instagram. The project will inform the debate on echo-chamber, and its consequences on the type of debate that people have on social media platforms."