Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Call to Action initiative to support faculty research in systemic racism, social justice issues

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will introduce a series of actions, investments, programs and policy reforms designed to quickly and permanently transform how the university supports, prioritizes and recognizes the research of scholars working on issues of systemic racism in the U.S., Chancellor Robert Jones announced today.

Led by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the Call to Action initiative will establish working groups charged with taking concrete steps in the coming academic year to dismantle systemic racism and injustice. Jones said the measures that come forward from the panels will be both measurable and accountable.

Chancellor Robert Jones

Chancellor Robert Jones

“Recent events have once again underscored the critical need for universities across our nation to prioritize research focused on systemic racial inequities that exist not only in our communities but in higher education itself,” Jones said. “And we must do so with the same urgency, creativity and purpose we have seen in response to the COVID-19 crisis.” 

The initial Call to Action component is the Chancellor’s Research Program to Address Racism and Social Injustice. Managed by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in collaboration with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, the new program will invest $2 million annually to support competitively awarded grants to tenured and tenure-track faculty members, an annual symposium of funded projects and an ongoing lecture series.

A first call for research proposals and inaugural awards will be coming early in the fall semester, focusing on three areas:

  • Systemic racism and social justice
  • Law enforcement and criminal justice reform
  • Disparities in health and health care

“This initiative is just the first step as we seek to transform the way our own university supports, prioritizes and recognizes the research of scholars working on issues of systemic racism in the United States,” Jones said. “There are many more to come in the days and weeks ahead.”

Editor’s note: For additional information, contact Robin Kaler, associate chancellor for public affairs, 217-333-5010, rkaler@illinois.edu

Read Next

Announcements Marcelo Garcia, professor of civil and environmental engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering.

Illinois faculty member elected to National Academy of Engineering

Champaign, Ill. — Marcelo Garcia, a professor of civil and environmental engineering in The Grainger College of Engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Social sciences Male and female student embracing on the quad with flowering redbud tree and the ACES library in the background. Photo by Michelle Hassel

Dating is not broken, but the trajectories of relationships have changed

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — According to some popular culture writers and online posts by discouraged singles lamenting their inability to find romantic partners, dating is “broken,” fractured by the social isolation created by technology, pandemic lockdowns and potential partners’ unrealistic expectations. Yet two studies of college students conducted a decade apart found that their ideas about […]

Engineering Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Nishant Garg, center, is joined by fellow researchers, from left: Yujia Min, Hossein Kabir, Nishant Garg, center, Chirayu Kothari and M. Farjad Iqbal, front right. In front are examples of clay samples dissolved at different concentrations in a NaOH solution. The team invented a new test that can predict the performance of cementitious materials in mere 5 minutes. This is in contrast to the standard ASTM tests, which take up to 28 days. This new advance enables real-time quality control at production plants of emerging, sustainable materials. Photo taken at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Photo by Fred Zwicky / University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

Researchers develop a five-minute quality test for sustainable cement industry materials

A new test developed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign can predict the performance of a new type of cementitious construction material in five minutes — a significant improvement over the current industry standard method, which takes seven or more days to complete. This development is poised to advance the use of next-generation resources called supplementary cementitious materials — or SCMs — by speeding up the quality-check process before leaving the production floor.

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010