In this first year of implementation at CU Boulder, a collective of faculty, staff and administrators reviewed Impact Grant proposals for both summer 2023 and academic year 2024 initiatives.

With the support of 40 reviewers representing 20 units from across campus, the following proposals were funded by the DEI Impact Grants Program:

Peer Mentor Program Support Coordinator for 'My Voice Matters' Peer Mentor Program

College of Arts and Sciences – Administration

The peer mentor program support coordinator will assist the Office of Pre-Health Advising (OPHA) with its peer mentor program, which focuses on giving students underrepresented in health care career fields a paid leadership opportunity showcasing their skills and knowledge. Peer mentors are engaged in an asset-based model of diversity, equity and inclusion work where they develop leadership skills for their professional school applications. The peer mentor program support coordinator will develop diversity, equity and inclusion training, oversee peer mentors and plan community-building events.

Program for Excellence in Academics and Community (PEAC): Summer Bridge Program for the Miramontes Arts & Sciences ProgramĚý

College of Arts and Sciences – Administration

The Program for Excellence in Academics and Community or PEAC is a three-week residential summer bridge program for incoming first-year students who are first-generation college students and/or members of historically underrepresented ethno-racial groups. The program has two primary focuses, including 1) preparing students for academic achievement by facilitating their confidence and preparation for college and their sense of identity as scholars and 2) helping students to build an inclusive community and a network of friends and mentors while working across intersectional differences.

Bridges to Biosciences Summer Research at CU Boulder

College of Arts and Sciences – Natural Sciences

The Bridges to Biosciences program will provide Colorado community college students interested in the life sciences with research experience in CU Boulder faculty laboratories, thus smoothing the transfer pathway for underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering and math or STEM to matriculate and complete a biological and health sciences four-year degree program. CU Boulder hosted three Front Range Community College students through a pilot program during summer 2022. For summer 2023, our goal is to expand the student cohort to seven and add students from the Community College of Denver.

Integrated Data Science, Community and Resilience Building Summer Program

Graduate School

We will develop an immersive summer program to increase computational competency, belonging and scholarly identity among CU graduate students, especially those from historically marginalized communities. Our program is based on two successful CU Boulder programs: the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EBIO) FIRED UP program and the DnA (Dowell and Allen) Lab Short-Read course. In the mornings, students will participate in a practicum-based computational course. In the afternoons, they will engage in cohort-building and a curriculum focused on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion or JEDI that addresses the psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness.

All-Gender Locker Rooms

Student Affairs

Recreation Services provides all-gender locker rooms with the ability to rent lockers in these spaces. The requests for all-gender lockers are greater than the number available. With the current locker room layout, we can add 19 more lockers (16 half and three full lockers). The Student Recreation Board approved the locker room enhancement and our ability to provide additional space to meet the needs of our students in an effort to further build community and welcome all recreation users.

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Building Inclusive Pathways: A One-Year Bridge Program for Students in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

College of Arts and Sciences – Administration

This grant proposes the development of a one-year bridge program for first-generation and underrepresented students in the arts, humanities and social sciences. The program will aim to increase student retention by 1) facilitating a sense of belonging through an identity-conscious curriculum and cohorted community-building programming and 2) preparing students for academic achievement by teaching them the “hidden curriculum” and field-relevant learning skills, and connecting them to enrichment opportunities within their respective fields of study.

CU Boulder Latinx Student Support Plan

College of Arts and Sciences – Administration

The Latin American and Latinx Studies Center (LALSC) proposes a student-centered support plan. The plan seeks to assist the trajectory of students who identify as Latinx through financial, academic, professional, emotional and community support during all their years at CU Boulder. It includes a request for 1) the enhancement of the existing Graduate Cluster and 2) the creation of a new Undergraduate Advisory Cluster. LALSC is resourced to support students who identify as Latinx through curriculum, faculty, staff, grants, community partners and academic and community events.

Disability Symposium

College of Arts and Sciences – Administration

Research shows that individuals who are diagnosed with a disability are less likely to graduate college and take longer to graduate than individuals who have not been diagnosed with a disability. The following proposal outlines some of the unique challenges students with disabilities face, what the College of Arts and Sciences and campus partners at large can do to assist in creating an inclusive environment, and the positive revenue implications for improving inclusion.

Enhancing Community and Exploring Diversity Through A&S RAP Monthly Cultural Heritage Celebrations

College of Arts and Sciences – Administration

The project will bring students and faculty in residential academic programs (RAPs) together around cultural heritage month curricular and co-curricular activities. This effort will support student retention by enhancing the sense of community and belonging among first-year students, highlight and retain diverse RAP faculty, and encourage students to connect content in their RAP courses with the diversity of our society. Successes and shortcomings of the program will be identified by expanding assessment tools currently in use in the RAPs.

Peer Mentor Program Support Coordinator for “My Voice Matters” Peer Mentor Program

College of Arts and Sciences – Administration

The Peer Mentor Program support coordinator will assist the Office of Pre-Health Advising (OPHA) with its peer mentor program, which focuses on giving students underrepresented in health care career fields a paid leadership opportunity showcasing their skills and knowledge. Peer mentors are engaged in an asset-based model of diversity, equity and inclusion work where they develop leadership skills for their professional school applications. The peer mentor program support coordinator will develop training focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, oversee peer mentors and plan community-building events.

Math for All

College of Arts and Sciences – Natural Sciences

Math For All (M4A) in Boulder is an inclusive mathematics event. It consists of a conference and activities throughout the year. The main goals are to provide an inclusive and friendly environment to discuss mathematics. This welcoming space allows all students, and in particular students from underrepresented groups, to develop a sense of belonging in mathematics by interacting with participants from diverse backgrounds. M4A provides its participants with resources to become competitive academic and industry job candidates.

COSGC WARP-SPEED Program

College of Engineering and Applied Science

The Colorado Space Grant Consortium (COSGC) Space Professional Education, Enrichment and Development or WARP-SPEED program engages an interdisciplinary student cohort interested in space-related research in their first semester. In order to diversify the aerospace workforce, engaging and retaining underrepresented populations during the undergraduate experience through immersion in experiential learning and research is key. WARP-SPEED students will work on experiential, NASA-aligned projects in a collaborative, positive and healthy environment where they can build their technical, communication, interpersonal and leadership skills while developing their science, technology, engineering and math or STEM identity.

Inclusive Culture Council Student Professional Development Program

College of Engineering and Applied Science

The Inclusive Culture Council Student Professional Development Program will allow eligible students from historically marginalized populations to gain access to and engage in opportunities offered at professional conferences such as internship and career opportunities, expanding their professional networks in industry, connecting with professional mentors, and gaining knowledge and resources to share with CU Boulder chapters. The program will support engineering students from the college’s BOLD Center societies by providing full conference and travel funding for 45 students with high financial need.

Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation Bridge to the Doctorate Program

College of Engineering and Applied Science

The Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Bridge to the Doctorate program has funding from the National Science Foundation for stipend and tuition support of new, diverse PhD students in computer science, engineering and physics. We are requesting diversity, equity and inclusion Impact Grant funds for associated professional and social activities to build a community among a cohort of incoming PhD students to help ensure their success in student achievement outcomes and prepare them for participation in a diverse democracy.

CMCI Center for Race, Media and Technology

College of Media, Communication and Information

The Center for Media, Race and Technology (CMRT) in the College of Media, Communication and Information (CMCI) will center race and racial inequalities as they relate to social and technological systems. The CMRT will research, promote and develop a community focused on the everyday experiences of Black, Indigenous and other people of color with and within media and technological experiences broadly. This grant will support our initial emphasis on collaborative research, promotion and dissemination, and curricular initiatives.

Establishing the Graduate Inclusive Mentoring (GIM) Program: A Multifaceted Approach to Elevate Diverse and Underrepresented Graduate Student Experiences

Graduate School

We will establish a multifaceted Graduate Inclusive Mentoring (GIM) program focused on using peer and faculty mentoring to improve the experiences of graduate students from diverse backgrounds. Critical determinants of graduate student well-being and success include the mentoring relationships they develop with peers and academic mentors. We will develop a comprehensive program, including 1) building a community of faculty mentors trained through the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research or ; 2) an assessment program to provide feedback to mentors; and 3) a near-peer mentoring program focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.

Diverse Doctorates in Business Program

Leeds School of Business

The Leeds Diverse Doctorates in Business (DDB) program invites historically underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students at Leeds and students from the to consider pursuing a PhD in a business discipline. DDB scholars work directly with tenured/tenure-track faculty to develop and/or strengthen their research skills to prepare them for the possibility of a future business faculty research career and receive direct mentoring and networking support to help make their PhD applications as competitive as possible.

CU in the City Student Internship Program

Office of the Chancellor

The CU in the City Student Internship Program will engage historically excluded student populations in paid, community-based internship positions that serve existing needs within the Boulder community. Program recruitment will be targeted at students who identify with one or more historically excluded or minoritized identity groups (race, gender, sexuality, ability, first-generation status, citizenship and socioeconomic status). CU will work with city of Boulder managers to create meaningful opportunities within city departments. The program will be managed by the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and CU Boulder’s Office of Government and Community Engagement.

Building a Research Learning Community at CU Boulder

Research and Innovation Office

As CU Boulder's focal point for research, the Research and Innovation Office (RIO) seeks to create and sustain a research learning community (RLC) through a series of workshops bringing together Black, Indigenous and other people of color and/or faculty focusing on justice, equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility (JEDIA) research/creative work from across campus to learn to 1) identify funding opportunities for Black, Indigenous and other people of color and/or JEDIA-focused faculty; 2) draft grant proposals for one of these opportunities (to be reused for others); and 3) respond authentically to emerging questions on grant applications about JEDIA ideals, practices and challenges at CU Boulder.

Building Inclusive Classrooms: Diversifying Instructional Teams with Undergraduate Learning Assistants

School of Education

We focus on increasing the visibility of the learning assistant (LA) model as a mechanism for enhancing student voices, disrupting power structures, enhancing socio-academic inclusion and belonging, and improving the campus climate. LAs are undergraduate students who serve on the instructional teams of courses, working alongside professors in implementing learner-centered environments. By studying how the LA model impacts two new departments in terms of its effect on diversity, equity and inclusion influencing traditionally valued outcomes, we will demonstrate how diversity, equity and inclusion efforts mediate student success.

Dialogic Classroom Training Initiative Grounded in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

School of Education

We will develop a comprehensive “DEI-Grounded Dialogic Classroom Training Initiative” that includes a 10-week training program for 20 graduate students to earn a microcredential in using dialogue grounded in diversity, equity and inclusion as a classroom pedagogy. The initiative will also include a campuswide “Dialogue Day” of facilitated dialogue. This collaboratively designed initiative will build well-informed, scalable practices in inclusive dialogue through its focus on a) providing training in dialogic pedagogy grounded in diversity, equity and inclusion for graduate student instructors to integrate in classes and b) providing dialogue programming for undergraduate students.

Spanish and ASL Language Skills for Library and Museum Employees

University Libraries

The University Libraries and the CU Museum of Natural History seek funding to continue a pilot language program in collaboration with the Anderson Language and Technology Center (ALTEC). This program offers basic Spanish and American Sign Language (ASL) courses for employees during the 2023-24 academic year. This professional development opportunity allows employees to engage with a broader range of patrons and impacts the way the Libraries and the CU Museum build a more inclusive environment for our campus and the Boulder community.