There is strength to be found in community, a fact that the 600-member-strong Diversity Research Network (DRN) knows all too well.
Now entering its 10th year, the Diversity Research Network is the product of an NSF-funded study about the work environment and experiences of tenure system faculty.
The study revealed that often, various scholars can experience isolation in their departments or in their fields at large—especially at an institution the size of MSU.
As such, the DRN was born and built around five major pillars: scholarship, support, visibility, student engagement, and community engagement—all with the larger goal of linking scholars from a broad spectrum of backgrounds and disciplines, elevating the visibility of their work, and creating an environment that is supportive of their recruitment, retention, and advancement in their careers.
Years of successful fundraising efforts have enabled the DRN to not only meet all of those goals, but to continue to grow its offerings, from networking opportunities, workshops, and retreats, to the DRN’s Launch Awards Program grant—a major point of pride for DRN Director Debroah Johnson.
“Our awards program provides small bits of funding to generate new work, or help newer faculty initiate and build their research and scholarly programs,” Johnson says. They may use it to cover the material costs of a creative project, develop data for publication, or put the finishing touches on work that might enable them to go for a larger grant.
Much the same way a little bit of extra funding often helps a researcher obtain much bigger funding, a little bit of extra funding for the DRN’s programmatic offerings helps nurture connections across campus that will only help their strengthen and grow their community.
And part of that strength, year after year, comes from the enthusiastic support of annual donors. This year is no different.
As MSU recognizes Black History Month and encourages Spartans to support programs that serve the Black student and faculty communities on campus, the DRN has launched a fundraising campaign to raise $5,000.
Visit the Diversity Research Network’s Crowdpower page to make a gift, and learn more about how every dollar raised makes a difference.