The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has selected 24 educational institutions to receive $1 million grants as part of it Inclusive Excellence initiative. The initiative’s broad objective is to help colleges and universities to encourage participation and cultivate the talent of students in the natural sciences. In particular, the initiative focuses on those undergraduates who come to college from diverse backgrounds and pathways.
“Too many times we approach diversity with a deficit mindset in which interventions are aimed at ‘fixing the students,’” said David Asai, senior director for science education at HHMI. Instead, the new initiative focuses on the important work of making the culture of the institution more inclusive, he said. “We want to change the way schools do business.”
The 24, four-year institutions receiving the grants include only one historically Black university, Delaware State. Here is the complete list of the 24 schools receiving the $1 million grants for programs in increase diversity in STEM fields.
| Chaminade University of Honolulu | Tufts University |
| Delaware State University | University of California Davis |
| Kenyon College | University of California Los Angeles |
| Lawrence Technological University | University of Colorado Denver |
| Northeastern University | University of Northern Colorado |
| Oberlin College | University of South Dakota |
| Radford University | University of Texas Rio Grande Valley |
| Rochester Institute of Technology | University of Utah |
| San Francisco State University | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University |
| Stony Brook University | Washington University in St. Louis |
| Towson University | Western Washington University |
| Trinity Washington University |
