Purdue University has announced a $75-million “cluster hire” initiative to improve racial diversity among faculty on its campus.
Over the next five years, school officials say the plan is to hire 40 new full time faculty.
Peter Hollenbeck, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, said the proportion of Black faculty - and Black students - hasn’t improved at the university in decades.
“That has simply not come anywhere close in our history to matching the fraction of our state,”he said.
Dr. Jerome Adams, former United States Surgeon General and director of health equity initiatives at Purdue, said the pandemic revealed deep disparities in the country's healthcare system.
“It truly will never be the same after this pandemic,” he said. “We have an opportunity to shape it in a way that decreases disparities or shape it in a way that decreases disparities.”
Adams said a more diverse public health faculty at Purdue is essential to address disparities in health outcomes.