Wayne State University in Detroit has announced a $6 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in support of a recruitment program designed to expand the university’s humanities faculty and establish programs centered on the Black experience.

The grant will be used to launch an effort to recruit 30 humanities faculty and create the Detroit Center for Black Studies as part of a broader effort to build a more inclusive and equitable university community. Wayne State plans to recruit 10 early career scholars in the humanities for the Pathway to Faculty program, an initiative to guide and prepare pre-faculty fellows for tenure-track positions; 10 new tenure-track hires; and 10 tenured faculty members at the associate or full professor level. The recruitment effort will focus on scholars whose research interests expand knowledge about people of color and the issues that affect them, along with studies involving the impact of race, racism, inequality, and struggles for equality and justice.

“[W]e aim to have a major impact on the key work of Wayne State: research, teaching, community engagement, and student success,” said Wayne State University president M. Roy Wilson. “We are committed to building a much more inclusive public research university that better reflects and serves our city, state, and nation. Ultimately, we believe that these hires and the curricula and community ties they develop will help us continue to increase success rates across our entire student population.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Drazen Zigic)