U. Michigan researcher position requires commitment to ‘diversity’ and ‘equity’

Are you interested in a position as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan? Well, you’re in luck!

The school’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) is offering a Collegiate Postdoctoral Fellowship to qualified applicants. However, just keep in kind one little tidbit about what “qualified” means to Michigan:

Along with your scholarship, you will be “evaluated on [your] contributions and commitment to increasing diversity, equity and/or inclusion in higher education” … which can be demonstrated “through research/scholarship, teaching/mentoring, and/or service/engagement.”

The LSA’s National Center for Institutional Diversity “encourages” applicants to address “some or all of the points” noted on this page regarding research proposals, personal commitments to diversity, and teaching statements.

With regards to the first item, in addition to one’s “scholarly achievements” the site states that “if applicable to your research,” an applicant may address the following:

* How the scholarship has the potential to serve the needs of groups that have been historically underserved by academic research.
* How the research/research interests focus on underserved populations and understanding issues of social inequalities.
* How the academic research brings to bear the critical perspectives that come from the scholarly understanding of the experiences of groups historically underrepresented in higher education or underserved by academic research generally.

“Particular consideration” (emphasis added) will be given to applicants who, on their teaching statement, note

* A record of leadership or significant experience teaching and mentoring undergraduate and graduate from broadly diverse demographic and social backgrounds, including students from groups that have been historically underrepresented in higher education.
* Capacity to pedagogically address and respond to the learning needs of students from diverse backgrounds.
* Ability to create an inclusive learning environment, addressing one or more of the following issues:

How your own and your students’ identities (e.g., race, gender, class), background, experience, and levels of privilege affect the classroom;

How diverse perspectives can be integrated into your teaching.

Lastly, one of the ways in which applicants can demonstrate that all-important commitment to diversity can be via a “commitment to allyhood through learning about structural inequities demonstrated by, for example, extensive reading or focused coursework, or participation in professional development programs or institutional diversity/equity/inclusion initiatives.”