Impact Grant Recipients
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 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Impact Grant Program:
Grant funds My Voice Matters peer mentor program support coordinator
College of Arts & Sciences – Administration
The College of Arts and Sciences received a seed grant to recruit a support coordinator for a peer mentor program in the Office of Pre-Health Advising (OPHA). The My Voice Matters program provides students who are underrepresented in health care fields with a paid leadership opportunity to showcase their skills and knowledge and enables peer mentors to engage in an asset-based model of diversity, equity and inclusion work to develop leadership skills they can include on professional school applications. The program's support coordinator develops diversity, equity and inclusion training, oversees peer mentors and plans community-building events.
Miramontes bridge program dedicated to supporting first-gen, historically underrepresented students
College of Arts & Sciences – Administration
The Miramontes Arts and Sciences 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 and/or members of historically underrepresented ethnic or racial groups. The program works to prepare students for college academic achievement by facilitating their confidence; supporting their sense of identity as scholars; helping them build an inclusive community; and helping them build a network of friends and mentors, working across intersectional differences.
Students obtain research experience through the Bridges to Biosciences program
College of Arts & Sciences – Natural Sciences
The Bridges to Biosciences program provides Colorado community college students interested in the life sciences with research experience in CU Boulder faculty laboratories. The program's goal is to smooth the transfer pathway for underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering and math or STEM so they can successfully matriculate and complete a four-year biological and health sciences degree program. CU Boulder hosted three Front Range Community College students through a pilot program during summer 2022. During summer 2023, the program's goal was to expand the student cohort to seven and add students from the Community College of Denver.
Summer program integrates data science, community and resilience building
Graduate School
The Graduate School received a seed grant to develop an immersive summer program with the goal of increasing computational competency, belonging and scholarly identity among CU graduate students, especially those from historically marginalized communities. The 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 participate in a practicum-based computational course. In the afternoons, they 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.
Recreation Services expands lockers in all-gender locker rooms
Student Affairs
Recreation Services provides all-gender locker rooms in the Student Recreation Center, providing members with the ability to rent lockers in these inclusive spaces. The requests for all-gender lockers are greater than the number available. To address this challenge, Recreation Services added 19 more lockers (16 half lockers and three full lockers) in the center's all-gender locker rooms. The Student Recreation Board approved the locker room enhancement, which enabled the Rec to provide additional space to meet the needs of CU Boulder students in an effort to further build community and welcome all recreation users.
Bridge program builds inclusive pathways for arts, humanities and social sciences students
College of Arts & Sciences – Administration
The College of Arts and Sciences received a seed grant to develop a one-year bridge program for first-generation and underrepresented students in the arts, humanities and social sciences. The program has sought to increase student retention by facilitating a sense of belonging through an identity-conscious curriculum and cohorted community-building programming; preparing students for academic achievement by teaching them the “hidden curriculum” and field-relevant learning skills; and connecting students to enrichment opportunities within their respective fields of study.
Academic center proposes a student-center support plan for Latine students
College of Arts & Sciences – Administration
The Latin American and Latinx Studies Center received a grant to establish a student-centered support plan to assist the trajectory of students who identify as Latino, Latina, Latinx or Latine through financial, academic, professional, emotional and community support during all their years at CU Boulder. The center requested funding to enhance the existing graduate student cluster and to create a new undergraduate advisory cluster. LALSC is resourced to support Latine students through curriculum, faculty, staff, grants, community partners and academic and community events.
A&S works to create inclusive environment through disability symposium
College of Arts & 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 College of Arts and Sciences submitted a proposal outlining some of the unique challenges faced by students with disabilities, what the college and campus partners at large can do to assist in creating an inclusive environment, and the positive revenue implications for improving inclusion.
Program unites students, faculty through cultural celebrations, co-curricular activities
College of Arts & Sciences – Administration
The College of Arts and Sciences received a grant to unite students and faculty in residential academic programs or RAPs around cultural heritage month curricular and co-curricular activities. Throught this effort, the college has sought to support student retention by enhancing a sense of community and belonging among first-year students; highlighting and retaining RAP faculty from diverse backgrounds; and encouraging students to connect content in their RAP courses with the diversity of society. The college has worked to identify the program's successes and shortcomings by expanding assessment tools used in the RAPs.
Grant supports coordinator for My Voice Matters peer mentoring program
College of Arts & Sciences – Administration
The Peer Mentor Program support coordinator assists the Office of Pre-Health Advising (OPHA) with its peer mentor program, which focuses on giving students who are underrepresented in health care fields a paid leadership opportunity to showcase their skills and knowledge. Peer mentors engage in an asset-based model of diversity, equity and inclusion work, developing leadership skills for professional school applications. The support coordinator for the peer mentor program develops diversity, equity and inclusion training, oversees peer mentors and plans community-building events.
Math for All leverages an inclusive mathematics event
College of Arts & Sciences – Natural Sciences
Math For All (M4A) is an inclusive mathematics event in Boulder consisting of year-round activities and an annual conference. The event's goals are to provide an inclusive and friendly environment to discuss mathematics. It provides a welcoming space that allows all students, in particular students from underrepresented groups, to develop a sense of belonging in mathematics by interacting with participants from diverse backgrounds. M4A provides participants with resources to become competitive academic and industry job candidates.
Learning at warp speed: program supports first-year students interested in space research
College of Engineering & 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. 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 work on experiential, NASA-aligned projects in a collaborative, positive and healthy environment where they can build technical, communication, interpersonal and leadership skills while developing a science, technology, engineering and math or STEM identity.
Grant funds internships, conferences and other career opportunities for engineering students
College of Engineering & Applied Science
The Inclusive Culture Council Student Professional Development Program allows 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 supports engineering students from the College of Engineering and Applied Science's BOLD Center societies by providing full conference and travel funding for 45 students with high financial need.
Louis Stokes Alliance builds bridges to doctoral programs
College of Engineering & 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. The College of Engineering and Applied Science requested 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 creates a Center for Race, Media and Technology
College of Media, Communication & Information
The Center for Media, Race and Technology in the College of Media, Communication and Information centers race and racial inequalities related to social and technological systems. The center researches, promotes and develops a community focused on the everyday experiences of Black, Indigenous and other people of color with and within media and technological experiences broadly. CMCI received grant funding to support the center's initial emphasis on collaborative research, promotion and dissemination and curricular initiatives.
Graduate School establishes inclusive mentoring program
Graduate School
The CU Boulder Graduate School received seed grant funding to establish a multifaceted Graduate Inclusive Mentoring 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. The school has worked to develop a comprehensive program to build a community of faculty mentors trained through the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research or ; an assessment program to provide feedback to mentors; and a near-peer mentoring program focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.
Leeds program invites students to consider doctoral degrees in business
Leeds School of Business
The Leeds Diverse Doctorates in Business 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 promotes professional opportunities in Boulder
Office of the Chancellor
The CU in the City Student Internship Program engages historically excluded student populations in paid, community-based internship positions that serve existing needs within the Boulder community. Program recruitment has targeted 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 Boulder has worked with city of Boulder managers to create meaningful opportunities within city departments. The program is managed by the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and CU Boulder’s Office of Government and Community Engagement.
RIO working to build a research learning community at CU Boulder
Research & Innovation Office
As CU Boulder's focal point for research, the Research and Innovation Office or RIO seeks to create and sustain a research learning community 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 identify funding opportunities for Black, Indigenous and other people of color and/or JEDIA-focused faculty; to draft grant proposals for one of these opportunities (to be reused for others); and to respond authentically to emerging questions on grant applications about JEDIA ideals, practices and challenges at CU Boulder.
School of Education seeks to diversify instructional teams with help of undergraduate learning assistants
School of Education
The School of Education seeks to increase the visibility of the learning assistant model as a mechanism for enhancing student voices, disrupting power structures, enhancing socioacademic inclusion and belonging, and improving the campus climate. Learning assistants or LAs are undergraduate students who serve on the instructional teams of courses and work alongside professors to implement learner-centered environments. By studying how the LA model affects two new departments in terms of its effect on diversity, equity and inclusion influencing traditionally valued outcomes, the school has worked to demonstrate how diversity, equity and inclusion efforts mediate student success.
School of Education develops graduate dialogue program grounded in diversity, equity and inclusion
School of Education
The School of Education received seed grant funding to develop a comprehensive dialogic classroom training initiative that includes a 10-week training program for 20 graduate students to earn a microcredential grounded in diversity, equity and inclusion as a classroom pedagogy. The initiative includes a campuswide “Dialogue Day” of facilitated dialogue. This collaboratively designed initiative works to build well-informed, scalable practices in inclusive dialogue through its focus on providing training in dialogic pedagogy grounded in diversity, equity and inclusion for graduate student instructors to integrate in classes and providing dialogue programming for undergraduate students.
Libraries, museum receive grant funding for employee Spanish, ASL learning
University Libraries
The University Libraries and the CU Museum of Natural History sought funding to continue a pilot language program in collaboration with the Anderson Language and Technology Center. The language program offered basic Spanish and American Sign Language courses for employees during the 2023-24 academic year. The professional development opportunity allowed employees to engage with a broader range of patrons with the goal of shaping the way the Libraries and the CU Museum work to create more inclusive environments for the campus and the Boulder community.
Summer performance academy works to broaden access to classical music
College of Music
Historically, the classical music world has been exclusive – unavailable to a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds. Musicians start playing at a very young age, and only those with financial and other means have been able to receive the support and private lessons necessary to excel in the field. To help break down these barriers, the CU Boulder College of Music is partnering with in support of greater equity and inclusion in the classical music field. The , a summer bridge program, focuses on chamber music, solo performance and cultural diversity.
A&S JEDI seeks to increase student engagement on campus
College of Arts & Sciences – Administration
Through programs, events and workshops that provide education and community, the College of Arts and Sciences Office for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) is committed to combating a crisis of belonging at CU Boulder by advocating for and supporting students, faculty and staff. The JEDI office will work to leverage seed funding to hire a part-time student program coordinator who will focus on increasing student engagement through programming, marketing and student relations efforts.
My Voice Matters recruits student mentors and leaders
The Office of Pre-Health Advising piloted the My Voice Matters peer mentoring program in 2022. Mentoring programs provide mentors and mentees with an opportunity to connect with peers and develop important skills. Leadership, teamwork and collaboration are highly valued in health care admissions processes, and working as a mentor develops these skills. The program seeks to recruit diverse, historically underrepresented students as mentors, providing them a paid opportunity to use their strengths, social capital and knowledge to help the next generation of pre-health students.
Miramontes, Natural Sciences will serve first-year students
Science Bound, a yearlong program serving first-year, natural sciences students who are also first-generation and/or from historically underrepresented populations, is a new collaboration between the Miramontes Arts and Sciences Program and the Division of Natural Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. Science Bound focuses on scaling up MASP programming to reach more students, integrating students into their respective academic programs more effectively, and increasing retention for first-year students in the natural sciences.
Inclusive mentoring community of practice to benefit graduate students
Graduate School
While mentoring is central to the graduate student experience, it can also be a complicated practice with many inherent challenges, particularly for members of historically underrepresented groups in university settings. A newly funded, faculty-led Graduate Inclusive Mentoring Community will focuses on mentoring graduate students, and grant funding will support the recruitment of faculty mentors and the development of inclusive mentoring training.Ěý
New program to support Black women in STEM graduate programs
Boulder Black Blossoms envisions a social and emotional support system for Black women pursuing graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and education at CU Boulder. The program's goals are to reduce student attrition, increase self-efficacy and resilience, and improve social and emotional well-being through mentoring, workshops and community engagement. The program aims to improve support for Black graduate women, promote inclusiveness at CU Boulder, enrich academic and professional fields, and increase the representation of Black women in scholarly spaces.
FSAP’s CU Cultural Collective works to foster inclusive networks
Health & Wellness
The CU Cultural Collective Project is an innovative initiative led by the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program in response to the historical underuse of counseling services by Black, Indigenous and other employees of color despite heightened, chronic stress. FSAP's program aims to create an inclusive space for minoritized faculty and staff to discuss mental health topics. Through multiple efforts, this project will launch twice-a-semester meetings featuring facilitated conversations and multicultural food-sharing, monthly coffee meetups, and a biannual gathering for women of color employees. This initiative seeks to foster an inclusive network to cultivate a heightened sense of belonging, acceptance, connection and value.
Toolkit focuses on community-engaged research partnerships
Research & Innovation
The Community-Engaged Research working group of environmental science researchers at CU Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will engage in discussions with research experts, community leaders and graduate students to investigate unethical “helicopter science” approaches. Such approaches privilege the researcher’s career and do not address local research needs, resident expertise and community-based research at research sites. An open resource toolkit and microcredential program for equitable and inclusive community research partnerships will be designed and offered as a guide.
Building infrastructure for student-led, participatory action research
School of Education
The CU Boulder School of Education will build infrastructure for undergraduate students who are Black, Indigenous or from other minoritized identities and allies to conduct ongoing, participatory action research about the lived experiences of historically disenfranchised students at CU Boulder. As a PAR project, students will use findings from research to engage stakeholders to effect reform. This research will complement existing campuswide climate data with nuanced, context and specific findings. The infrastructure provides continuity so the core research can evolve over time, providing timely and cumulative findings to campus leaders.
Honoring cultural traditions and promoting inclusiveness at graduation
Office of Advancement
Leveraging grant funding for sustainability aid, the CU Boulder Alumni Association partners with the campus’s Center for Inclusion and Social Change and campus groups to co-host affinity graduations. Affinity graduations symbolize each group's unique heritage while honoring cultural traditions and promoting inclusiveness within a predominantly white institution by affirming group identities and fostering belonging and community-building. This model promotes healing through engagement that extends beyond graduation, building a lasting community among graduates and other alumni through alumni clubs and networks.
Level Up helps first-generation students obtain work experience
Division of Student Affairs
Through Level Up, first-generation students work on teams to apply their education, skills and knowledge in real-world situations. CU Boulder Career Services matches multidisciplinary teams of first-generation students with companies in Colorado to complete real-world projects. Projects last for eight weeks at a few hours per week. Each student who participates receives a $500 stipend for participation. The primary objective of Level Up is to address an equity gap observed in first-generation student participation in internships and other experiential learning opportunities.
Recreation Services is working to build diversity within the fitness community
Within the fitness industry, the lack of diversity among professional personal trainers is prevalent. CU Boulder can change the current path by providing the opportunity and financial support to prepare and train historically underrepresented students and first-generation students to become personal trainers. This program provides student trainers opportunities to be seen as a reflection of all students on campus, connecting with those from similar backgrounds. Learn more about inclusive fitness programs led by the Division of Student Affairs and Recreation Services.
Re-engaging alumni as career coaches for current students
Undergraduate Education Student Support Services
CU Boulder students from historically underserved backgrounds typically select a major or majors as future careers, expecting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees to return rewarding jobs for social mobility and professional identity. Leveraging a pilot project, the Student Academic Success Center or SASC will design, implement and evaluate a program to broaden students’ pathways to professional success. By reengaging alumni to coach current students, SASC intends to foster alternative degree-to-career narratives that enrich students’ professional networks and generate new opportunities for professional success.