UConn seeks engineering ‘inclusion’ professor

The University of Connecticut will hire a new engineering professor focused on “inclusion,” following a $3 million donation.

The public university’s “Vergnano Endowed Chair for Inclusion within the College of Engineering” stems from the work of the Vergnano Institute for Inclusion at the college, according to a university news release. The donation came from couple Mark and Betsy Vergnano.

UConn provided few details when asked if the professor would be teaching classes about “diversity, equity, and inclusion” and engineering.

Spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz directed The College Fix via email to a board of trustees’ memo on the new position. It stated the professor should have a “consistent record of demonstrating leadership and fostering excellence towards inclusive instruction, research, and outreach within the College’s academic community.”

“The position supports the institute’s work to facilitate the outreach, recruitment, retention, and overall success of all members of the School of Engineering community,” Reitz told The Fix via email.

The Fix also asked what steps the university would take to ensure its programming does not exclude white students because of their race. The Vergnano Institute’s goal is to provide “underrepresented students with access to scholarships, coaching and mentorship opportunities, training, and other critical career development resources within the School of Engineering.”

A news release also stated the Institute advances UConn program that “serves underrepresented incoming freshmen engineering students – both minorities and women.”

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids universities that receive taxpayer dollars from discriminating against students on the basis of race.

Reitz stated:

UConn does not unlawfully discriminate in any of its education or employment programs and activities on the basis of an individual’s race, color, ethnicity, religious creed, age, sex, marital status, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, genetic information, physical or mental disability (including learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, and past or present history of mental illness), veteran’s status, prior conviction of a crime, workplace hazards to the reproductive system, gender identity or expression, or membership in any other protected classes as set forth in state or federal law.