Critical Studies in Race and Inequality
Harpur College is spearheading a new, multi-year cluster hire initiative in the thematic
area “Critical Studies in Race and Inequality.” Harpur seeks to build a network of
scholars who are committed to conducting research on race, racism, ethnicity, social
justice, power and structures of inequality in their diverse fields of specialization.
The college is particularly interested in appointing faculty members who are deeply
connected to and integrated into the communities that they study, as a means to build
on the strong tradition of engaged scholarship at Binghamton University.
The group of new hires will form a cohort that will lay the groundwork for a durable
network of scholarly support, mutual mentorship and program development, while also
connecting with existing interdisciplinary programs and transdisciplinary areas of
excellence. By hiring in a thematic cluster, the college hopes to foster a strong
sense of community among these new colleagues, while also ensuring high rates of retention
and encouraging collaboration across departmental lines. While the cluster hire serves
as a mechanism to attract, recruit and retain faculty who share intellectual interests
and professional commitments, each position will have a different departmental berth,
although joint appointments may be made.
In 2019-20, two apppointments were made:
- Miya Carey, Assistant Professor, Department of History (beginning in Fall 2021)
- Leigh-Anna Hidalgo, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology
This cluster hire initiative contributes to the goals of the SUNY PRODiG program, launched in 2019, which aims to add a thousand historically underrepresented faculty members to the SUNY system within the next 10 years, thereby doubling the diversity of the current faculty. This is a multi-year initiative.
Harpur College provides many resources to ensure faculty success, including a Mutual Mentoring Initiative, Faculty Research Grants and Subvention Awards. All pre-tenure faculty members are also eligible for the Dean's Teaching Release Award, which is designed to promote their prospects for tenure and promotion. Faculty members may also be eligible for the Dr. Nuala McGann Drescher Affirmative Action/Diversity Leave Program (administered by United University Professions) and Presidential Diversity Research Grants (PDRG).
Read Harpur College Dean Elizabeth Chilton's piece, "The Certain Benefits of Cluster Hiring," in Inside Higher Ed, February 6, 2020.
