March 25, 2022 

Congratulations to Enid Schatz, Public Health department chair and professor, and Michelle Teti, associate department chair and associate professor, who received a $300,000 Transforming Academia for Equity research grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.     

An interdisciplinary team of investigators will conduct research to inform inclusion, diversity and equity (IDE) policies at Mizzou with a focus on supporting faculty with lived experiences of marginalization through the university’s promotion and tenure process.  

Drs. Schatz and Teti are the co-principal investigators of the project. Additional collaborators include junior and senior public health faculty, decision makers and administrative leaders: 

• Loren Bauerband, Health Sciences assistant professor 
• Kaleea Lewis, Public Health assistant professor,  
• Rachael Hernandez, Communication assistant professor and Public Health affiliate faculty 
• Brian Houston, Communication professor and chair, and Public Health affiliate faculty 
• Stephanie Shonekan, College of Arts & Science associate dean and professor of music, and Black Studies affiliate faculty
• David Mitchell, School of Law associate dean and professor, and Black Studies affiliate faculty 

Drs. Shonekan and Mitchell also direct the Middleton Center for Race, Citizenship & Justice.    

“This project aims to collect formative data to inform strategies to retain underrepresented faculty, promote IDE-focused research as valuable and necessary to improving public health, and to highlight this work as worthy of recognition via MU’s tenure and promotion system,” said Dr. Schatz. “We are excited to have a team with rich experience in promoting IDE work and research on campus.” 

This team, in collaboration with Change Matrix and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will document the origins and impacts of MU’s current IDE policies, set new department goals, pilot new initiatives, define IDE success, and create a strategic plan for sustained IDE change at department level, with the aim to influence university practices more broadly.