The Massachusetts State Alliance of Framingham State University (FSU), Bridgewater State University (BSU) and Worcester State University (WSU) welcomed five faculty of color as the inaugural cohort for their National Science Foundation (NSF) funded work to create a national model for recruiting and advancing early career STEM faculty of color.

NSF-AGEP (Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate) funding has typically supported STEM graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at funded alliances. The Massachusetts State Alliance is just the second NSF grant of its type in the U.S. to an alliance focusing on success of recruited early career STEM faculty of color.

AGEP supports alliances among institutions of higher education to design and implement strategies that increase the number of historically underrepresented STEM faculty and promote systemic change. NSF's AGEP-population include African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders.

"I am excited about the goal and aims of this project," says Dr. Kristen Porter-Utley, FSU's Provost and VP for Academic Affairs "Because we are collaborating across institutions, and choosing to engage in this hard work together – the outcomes will be amazing and may be some of the best work we will do in our careers."

The five scholars comprising the first cohort are:

• Dr. Sarah Eagan, Psychologist at WSU;
• Dr. Rachel Avard, Biologist, FSU
• Dr. Chantrell Frazier, Chemist, FSU, a past AGEP graduate student scholar
• Dr. Carol Gray, Political Scientist, FSU
• Dr. Cheng-Chiang Wu, Botanist, FSU

Supporting this program are three faculty fellows, one at each institution, to support and guide the AGEP faculty scholars. They include Dr. Uma Shama at BSU, Dr. Ishara Mills-Henry at FSU, and Dr. Eihab Jaber at WSU, a past AGEP undergraduate and graduate student scholar

Last month, over two days, representatives from the alliance met on the FSU campus to kick off the development and implementation of the work, funded by a nearly $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

Framingham State University President Nancy Niemi welcomed participants, stating how proud she is of the three universities coming together as an alliance in supporting equity. "Many have been working on creating greater equity in STEM for a long time, and we are a visible part of that growth, that change in structure and our continuance of commitment to it," she said.

"We know how difficult this work is," BSU Executive Vice President and Provost Karim Ismaili added, "but it seems to me we're in a position where we can absolutely make a difference for our students and campus communities."

Dr. Lois Wims, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Worcester State University added; "This may be the most important work of your career," she said. "Many of us have been trying to move the needle in STEM…The goal is not just hiring, but giving faculty [of color] a place to grow."

Dr. Reema Zeineldin, the lead principal investigator on the grant set the stage for the work by sharing her own experience of harmful practices occurring at institutions of higher education that impact faculty of color and that may lead to leaving academia. The alliance leaders, Dr. Linda Larrivee, Dr. Daron Barnard, Dr. Martina Arndt, and Elizabeth Foss, the grant manager, led colleagues from the alliance in systematically developing and planning the details for a theory of change that aims at defying structural racism and creating a national model of equity-minded programming for successfully advancing early career faculty of color.