Carnegie Mellon University

Create Faculty Opportunity Fund

We are piloting a Faculty Opportunity Fund that will support recruitment, retention and development of outstanding scholars in all fields who will contribute to diversity and equity at CMU and enhance our reputation as a leading university. The success of this program will also depend on supporting and expanding recruitment strategies that have proven successful to date, including the President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (PPFP), among others.

Progress Update

Summer 2021: For the 2020-21 cycle, five colleges at CMU requested support and $3.7M has been awarded to date, resulting in six confirmed hires so far.

Previous Progress Updates

April 2021: The Office of the Provost has successfully launched the CMU Strategic Faculty Opportunity Fund. The purpose of this new fund is to increase the capacity of our mid-career and senior faculty to significantly contribute to CMU’s strategic diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives by providing substantial resources to recruit senior faculty to Carnegie Mellon. Several college requests have already been received since the fall 2020 launch, and two have been supported.

December 2020: Provost James H. Garrett has launched the Strategic Faculty Opportunity Fund that will support recruitment, retention and development of outstanding scholars in all fields who will contribute to diversity and equity at CMU and enhance our reputation as a leading university. The fund will be managed by the Office of the Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.