Provost's (DEIJ) Faculty Leadership Fellow Program

The Provost’s Office supports efforts to build a pipeline of emerging leaders as part of its Faculty and Leader Development Program. This fellowship opportunity advances institutional DEIJ goals while supporting faculty readiness for future leadership opportunities through building a portfolio of leadership activities.

Applications for the 2024-2025 leadership fellow opportunity are due Friday, April 26, 2024. Details on how to apply are below.

DEIJ Faculty Fellow 2023-2024: Mary Anne Amalaradjou

Mary Anne Amalaradjou (she/her/hers) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Connecticut. She received her DVM from India and MS and PhD in Food Microbiology from the University of Connecticut. Her research primarily focusses on food safety and gut health. Specifically, it is targeted towards understanding pathogen survival and persistence along the food chain, their virulence attributes and the application of protective cultures to control foodborne pathogens. She also evaluates the efficacy of currently applied intervention (hurdle) technologies to reduce pathogen transmission during pre- and post-harvest processing of fresh produce, meat and dairy products. Beyond controlling pathogens in food systems her research investigates the potential application of probiotics and functional foods in the prevention and treatment of gut pathologies. Through all aspects of the research program, her main objective is to improve food safety and promote public health.  Outside of research and teaching, she is passionate about mentoring the next generation with a strong focus on promoting equity and inclusivity in higher education.

About the Fellow Program

The Opportunity

The Provost's Office seeks interested applicants for a Provost's DEIJ Faculty Leadership Fellow to contribute to the advancement of the Provost's DEIJ initiatives. The fellow will oversee an assigned portfolio of initiatives and projects, collaborating closely with the Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, vice provosts, deans, department heads, and faculty. Applicants will be considered who hold a current, full-time faculty position at the University, and may include tenured faculty or CIRE faculty on multi-year contracts. It is anticipated that the fellow will contribute approximately 4-8 hours per week to assigned projects and initiatives, and work hours may vary based on active projects. The term of the appointment will be one academic year.

To Apply

Interested applicants should submit all application materials via email to provost@uconn.edu (preferred as one PDF document). Include "Provost DEIJ Faculty Leadership Fellow" in the subject header. Applications will be accepted through Friday, April 21, 2023. The Provost's Office, in consultation with the Office for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, will make decisions and communicate with candidates by early May.

Application Materials

A cover letter, articulating interest, vision, and qualifications. Should include a robust statement showcasing knowledge and experiences in areas aligned with projects above as well as the candidate's vision for DEIJ within academic affairs and examples of their capacity to execute that vision.
Curriculum Vitae
A letter of support from the faculty member's department head (or dean in a non-departmentalized school), to address the faculty member's contributions to the advancement of DEIJ in their unit and/or UConn more broadly AND address how this faculty member would benefit from participating in this leadership development opportunity.

Incentives