About Us
Over the past ten years, the Office of Strategic Hiring and Support has worked to diversify IUB's faculty base through hiring, retention and mentoring programs for minority and senior women faculty. Through our own initiatives and collaborative efforts with other IU departments, we are confident that we can continue to recruit and retain the best and brightest minority and senior women faculty, promote academic research dealing with relevant issues on the minority and gender agendas, offer minority students role models and all students the tools necessary to succeed in our diverse world.
The Office of Strategic Hiring and Support is indebted to many advocates and friends who share our commitment to faculty diversity at IUB. The histories of the initiatives below will give you a sense of where we came from.
History: The Faculty Fellowship Program (FFP)
The FFP began in 1986 to help IUB address the challenges of recruiting and retaining faculty of color and senior women faculty, to introduce promising young scholars and university departments to one another, and to improve the number of role models for minority students on campus. Between 1986 and 2005, the FFP welcomed 114 scholars to 36 IUB schools and departments.
Faculty Fellows led courses in fields from political science to higher education, from molecular biology to ethnomusicology. They hailed from New York to California, from Nebraska to Texas, and included award-winning authors, nationally-ranked amateur athletes and a Fulbright recipient. The fact that several former fellows hold tenure or tenure-track positions at IU attests to the Faculty Fellowship Program's accomplishments.
History: The Office of Latino Affairs
On June 30, 1999, the Office of Latino Affairs (OLA) officially closed its doors as an independent advocacy office. The OLA was established in 1973 on the Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) campus to provide services and programs for the Latino community. An academic dean was appointed in 1977 to administer the office, which would eventually be staffed by a full-time coordinator of Latino services, an executive secretary, and graduate and undergraduate students. A small student staff directed by a program assistant maintained the Latino Cultural Center, affectionately known as La Casa, which continues to serve as a main meeting place for Latino students and the Latino community at large.
