Peter Salovey, president of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, announced a five-year renewal of the existing Faculty Excellence and Diversity Initiative (FEDI). The university will increase the initiative’s budget by 70 percent, from $50 million to $85 million.
FEDI provides matching funds from the central university to Yale’s schools for making academic appointments that enrich the excellence and diversity of ladder faculty. The renewed and expanded program will include new elements intended to help recruit senior faculty in all disciplines. By ensuring availability of start-up funds, it will also help recruit science and engineering faculty of all ranks.
“In just four years, the Faculty Excellence and Diversity Initiative has enabled us to recruit 84 new ladder faculty members to Yale,” said President Salovey. “Due to the success we have seen so far, I am renewing FEDI for another five years. We are making an emphatic statement about our commitment to recruiting the most distinguished scholars, who will help diversify Yale, transform their fields, create knowledge to improve the world, and inspire our students to lead and serve all sectors of society.”
There are 85 Black ladder faculty at Yale. They make up 3.2 percent of all tenured or tenure-track faculty. In 2018, eight Black ladder faculty were hired, making up 3 percent of all new hires. Eight Black ladder faculty left Yale in 2017.
