Ohio State to expand research that informs understanding of race and equity issues

The Ohio State University has identified the first faculty positions to be created under a new initiative designed to address race-related social disparities through impactful research.

This week, the Office of Academic Affairs announced that 15 faculty positions would be created to expand research into cardiovascular health, the impact of climate change, the physical design of communities and other topics. These 15 tenure-track positions are part of the university’s RAISE (Race, Inclusion and Social Equity) initiative, which will add at least 50 research faculty to the university within a decade.

Each of the selected proposals is interdisciplinary and/or engages community partners. The six colleges involved in first-round proposals will now begin the process to recruit faculty members who would start in autumn 2022 or later academic terms. A second call for proposals will identify up to 10 additional RAISE faculty positions by the end of the academic year.

“RAISE is part of a larger initiative to expand the size and impact of Ohio State’s faculty over the coming decade,” said Executive Vice President and Provost Melissa L. Gilliam. “Adding researchers in focused areas will enhance our outstanding faculty and inform solutions to intractable issues.”

The 15 new positions were identified after a competitive process in which academic leaders throughout the university proposed positions in three broad fields: health equity; resources and the environment; and the arts and creative expression. Several of the positions will be hired as a cluster to focus on aligned research.

“We were impressed by how colleges collaborated on these proposals, bringing new approaches and various disciplines together to address urgent topics,” said Trevon D. Logan, special assistant to the provost for the RAISE initiative. “This is exactly what RAISE was designed to do.”

For example, the colleges of Nursing and Education and Human Ecology will collaborate to create a team of researchers focused on improving cardiovascular health. Likewise, the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences will work with community partners throughout the state to address urban health and environmental problems that are experienced differentially based on race and class.

The full list of selected proposals are:

• Climate, Race and Place (colleges of Arts and Sciences; Engineering; and Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences)
• Community Collaborative for Dental Care and Research (College of Dentistry)
• Global Black Arts (College of Arts and Sciences)
• Race and the Built Environment: The Just City (colleges of Arts and Sciences and Engineering)
• Improving Cardiovascular Health (colleges of Education and Human Ecology and Nursing)
• Urban Health, Environment, and Race Outcomes (Urban HERO) Collaborative (College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences)

The spring 2022 call for proposals is focused on the three other RAISE research areas, involving the intersection of race and educational equity, with an emphasis on STEAM education; justice and public safety; and economic opportunity and leadership.

Information about RAISE, including the approved proposals and call for additional proposals, is available at go.osu.edu/raise.

RAISE is part of a larger university initiative to add 350 tenure-track faculty within a decade, while also enhancing academic and personal resources to support Ohio State scholars, educators and practitioners through all phases of their careers.

For example, to enhance recruiting of early-career scholars, the Office of Academic Affairs recently launched the Provost’s Tenure-Track Fellow to Faculty Program. For the 2022-23 academic year, the program aims to recruit 10 individuals who will enter as tenure-track fellows and then advance to become assistant professors.