Each academic year the Provost’s Office, under the
leadership of the Office of Diversity Engagement and Community Outreach, invites
scholars from underrepresented ethnic minorities to apply for the USF Ethnic
Minority Dissertation Fellowship. In
this program, scholars are expected to complete their dissertation on a diversity related research topic, while teaching
one course per semester in the school where they are placed. Through this
program, promising scholars from diverse backgrounds become familiar
with the responsibilities of a USF faculty member. History of The Program
The Ethnic Minority Dissertation Fellowship began in 1993 with major grant funding from the James Irvine Foundation. Dr. Gerardo Marin, currently Vice Provost of Academic Affairs, was the principal architect of this initial fellowship program at USF. Funding from the Irvine grant ended in 2010. Since that time, the Provost's Office has funded this fellowship due to its highly successful record of recruiting and retaining talented ethnic minority scholars from across the country.
Many of USF’s celebrated professors began their careers at the university through this fellowship, and the university currently has 13 faculty members that are Irvine Fellows. In the words of Professor Kevin Chun, (Fellow '95-96): “This program was essential because it contributed to a critical mass of ethnic minority faculty on campus, which helped to reshape and strengthen USF's curriculum and intellectual life. Many of the Fellows eventually became the first members of their ethnic groups to become full-time, tenured professors in their academic departments. Fellows brought innovative research programs to USF and developed pioneering academic courses that directly speak to and serve San Francisco's diverse communities, thus raising USF's profile both locally and nationally. This fellowship continues to represent the heart and soul of USF's mission to distinguish itself as a diverse, socially responsible learning community of high quality scholarship and academic rigor sustained by a faith that does justice."
Ruth Kim's Curriculum Vitae
Dissertation Summary
Francisco's Curriculum Vitae
Dissertation Summary
Assistant Professor, Psychology
College of Arts & Sciences, University of San Francisco
"The year that I spent in the dissertation scholar program prompted a significant shift in my professional life. Not only did I complete the transition from student to teacher, but I also realized that pure research could be wielded to solve real world problems. Though my formal academic training took place at a research university where applied research is seen as less prestigious than basic research, nevertheless, USF’s values of social justice, equality and common good inspired an interest in applying emotion theories to study inter-group aggression. My research on the public’s support for war in the aftermath of 9/11 flourished during my tenure as a dissertation scholar. In addition, my current research on the emotional underpinnings of cyber policies is a continuation of this work, of using theory to address real world problems. To me, the dissertation scholarship is a chance for USF to showcase its thriving academic community and for candidates to immerse themselves in a unique and stimulating environment.
Assistant Professor, Philosophy
College of Arts & Sciences, University of San Francisco
Professor Spencer's Website
"USF's Ethnic Minority Dissertation Fellowship was integral to my development as a young scholar. It gave me my first job teaching a college course. The fellowship also helped me push my dissertation writing forward by structuring my time better (due to teaching demands) and giving me access to academics who were specialists in my area of research. Specifically, my dissertation was in the philosophy of race, and USF has more philosophers of race than any other university on the West coast. The fellowship also introduced me to the benefits and responsibilities of an academic, and solidified my desire to become a college professor. This fellowship is valuable to USF because there is no better way to achieve faculty diversity than to actively seek it out through an institutionalized recruitment program like USF's Ethnic Minority Dissertation Fellowship."
Assistant Professor, African Studies
College of Arts & Sciences, University of San Francisco
Professor Kamau-Rutenberg serves as the Director of Akili Dada
"The Ethnic Minority Dissertation Fellow made it possible for me to finish my dissertation and become an academic. USF believed in me and my abilities and provided me with all I needed to succeed."
Associate Professor, Sociology
College of Arts & Sciences, University of San Francisco
Professor Rodriguez serves as Co-President of Asian Women United
Rodriguez's book Coming of Age, is forthcoming from Temple University Press
"I think that the most important thing that being an Irvine Fellow enabled me to do was benefit from the wise and generous mentorship of senior faculty of color who truly understood my commitment (and the challenges) to developing research, teaching, and service that not only enriched my academic field but that contributed to empowering a next generation of informed and compassionate scholar-citizens in and out of the university. I am confident that the experience it gave me in the classroom and building relationships with my department helped make me a more qualified and competitive candidate for the nationally-posted position I was eventually hired for (at usf) while i was still abroad. While I've been at USF, I have personally witnessed the concrete ways the Irvine Fellowship has enriched our campus community. Our Irvines have been USF's workhorses: they helped establish African American Studies and Chican@/Latin@ Studies; they are serving as program directors, student and organization advisors, and in the Dean's office; and they are creating and maintaining vital partnerships between USF and community groups across San Francisco and beyond. The work of our Irvines has and continues to insure that USF walks the walk--and doesn't just talk the talk--when it comes to real diversity, and real community connections.
Director of African American Studies, University of San Francisco
Director of Esther Madriz Diversity Scholars Living Learning Community
Author of Imagining Black Womanhood (SUNY, 2010)
