APA Wins $600,000 Grant for Undergraduate Diversity
The American Philosophical Association (APA) has won a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The grant will provide $600,000 over three years to support undergraduate diversity institutes in philosophy, including the expansion of the Philosophy in an Inclusive Key Summer Institute (PIKSI) program and the development of infrastructure to support it and other undergraduate diversity institutes…
Through this grant, the APA will provide funding to increase the length and number of participants in the PIKSI program at Pennsylvania State University’s Rock Ethics Institute, now in its tenth year, and to found a second PIKSI program based in Boston, which will also be supported by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Massachusetts Boston.
In addition, the grant will allow the APA to provide infrastructure to support these and other undergraduate diversity institutes through networking and professional development opportunities, outreach and advertising, and data gathering efforts.
More information here.
(via Amy Ferrer)
For many years (decades!) the APA has struggled to provide the profession with the much needed services and support needed to make progress on many fronts, especially on diversity. This has been changing in the past several years, and this grant is solid evidence of the changes. Eva Kittay was an important force in making it happen (thank you Eva!). Huge credit should also go to Amy Ferrer, Executive Director of the APA, without whom it would never have been possible to get this grant. Amy is force for good in the profession and should be recognized for her immense energy, commitment, and organizational insight. The APA is working on many fronts to promote diversity, but has been seriously hampered by the lack of funds. This grant will not solve our problems, but will make a big difference. Let us celebrate, but let us also push forward not only to use it wisely, but to find ways to increase funding and develop additional low cost initiatives!
As a PIKSI alum, I am so excited about this! Wonderful news!