Supporting our Faculty and Trainees

The Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement is committed to supporting the career development of Columbia’s faculty and trainees and to recognizing their accomplishments.

The Junior Faculty Small Grants Program provides 1-year seed grants for junior faculty who contribute to the diversity goals of the university. In 2020, 21 grants were awarded across the Morningside and Columbia University Irving Medical Center campuses. Our office launched a Coffee Break & Coworking series to keep awardees connected while working and teaching remotely. 

The Mid-Career Small Grants Program was launched in spring 2018, and provides seed grants for up to 3 years for Morningside faculty members who have recently achieved tenure. In 2020, six grants were awarded.

The Provost Diversity Fellowship Program was established in 2012 to enhance the diversity of Columbia’s doctoral programs. The program is designed to promote diversity, inclusion, and equity in pathways to the professoriate by attenuating barriers to access for doctoral study at Columbia University, particularly for US citizens and permanent residents who have overcome systemic challenges or hardships in their academic pursuits and who have demonstrated a strong commitment to engaging in diversity. Fellowship recipients receive a one-time stipend as well as priority consideration for professional development opportunities throughout their doctoral studies. 

There are 40 Provost Diversity Fellows in the 2020-2021 cohort. In 2020, our office partnered with the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Office of Academic Diversity and Inclusion to host a virtual welcome event for this incoming cohort. Throughout the remote period, new and returning fellows have remained connected via virtual sessions and Slack-based networking.

2020 was the inaugural year of the Columbia University Faculty Mentoring Award, which recognizes senior faculty who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to faculty mentoring through their work developing the careers of tenure-track and mid-career faculty. We expected to offer two awards, but due to the volume and competitiveness of the submissions, we honored five faculty:

• Marianne Hirsch, William Peterfield Trent Professor of English, Faculty of Arts & Sciences 
• Ellie Hisama, Professor of Music, Music Theory and Historical Musicology, Faculty of Arts & Sciences 
• Darcy Kelley, Harold Weintraub Professor of Biological Sciences Faculty of Arts & Sciences 
• Gillian Metzger, Harlan Fiske Stone Professor of Constitutional Law, Columbia Law School
• Mae Ngai, Lung Family Professor of Asian American Studies and Professor of History, Faculty of Arts & Sciences