Breaking the M.O.L.D. Launches Second Cohort for Leaders of Color and Women in Higher Ed
September 22, 2023
The Mellon Foundation-funded initiative prepares underrepresented arts and humanities faculty at three Maryland universities for leadership roles.
By Jessica Weiss ’05
The second year of the “Breaking the M.O.L.D.” initiative is underway with new cohorts from three partner institutions: the University of Maryland at College Park (UMD), Morgan State University (MSU) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
The professional development initiative, supported by a $3 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is designed to create a pipeline to senior leadership in higher education for faculty members of color and women from the arts and humanities, as well as others with a proven record of promoting diversity within the academy.
UMD’s second cohort includes: Cécile Accilien, professor of French and Francophone studies in the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures; Andrea E. Brown, associate clinical professor and associate director of bands in the School of Music; La Marr Jurelle Bruce, associate professor & director of graduate studies in the Department of American Studies; Audran Downing, associate dean for academic affairs and undergraduate education in the College of Arts and Humanities; Julius B. Fleming, Jr. associate professor of English; Perla M. Guerrero, associate professor of American studies; Zenzele Isoke, associate professor in the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and Quincy T. Mills, associate professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of History.
Programming for the Breaking the M.O.L.D. initiative will include joint cohort meetings throughout the 2023–24 academic year at partner universities, where participants will learn about the essential skills needed to succeed in higher education leadership, various institutional administrative structures, and will also hear from prominent guest speakers from the region and around the country. They will use values-based frameworks to measure the impact of their work, and will have the opportunity to “shadow” senior leaders. Participants will also meet on their individual campuses to learn more about their own organizations, and to examine how the perspectives of leaders from humanities and the arts can make a unique difference at colleges and universities.
“At times humanists can see things others may not see because of our training,” said co-principal investigator (PI) Psyche Williams-Forson, professor and chair of American studies at UMD. “We can immediately spot bias. We have empathy. We can see achievement where others may not see it. That’s part of what we bring.”
In addition to Williams-Forson, at UMD participants will also work with co-PI Bonnie Thornton Dill, professor in the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and former dean of the College of Arts and Humanities; as well as with faculty leaders-in-residence Marisa Parham, professor of English; and Ruth Enid Zambrana, Distinguished University Professor in the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
A two-day launch event earlier this month at UMD featured guest speakers Philip Rous, former provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at UMBC; Jennifer King Rice, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at UMD; and Phyllis Y. Keys, the newly appointed associate vice president for academic affairs at MSU. Participants from all three cohorts had the opportunity to connect, learn and begin to share experiences and strategies.
Already, several faculty participants from the first UMD cohort have moved into new leadership roles: Associate Professor in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences Yi Ting Huang is serving as director of the Maryland Language Science Center, and Professor of English GerShun Avilez is serving as associate dean for academic affairs, graduate education and strategic initiatives in the College of Arts and Humanities. Associate Professor of American Studies Nancy Raquel Mirabal was among the winners of an impact award as part of the University of Maryland’s Grand Challenges Grants Program earlier this year; she is co-PI of the new Urban Equity Collaborative.
Photo collage features (from left to right, top to bottom): Cécile Accilien, Andrea E. Brown, La Marr Jurelle Bruce, Audran Downing, Julius B. Fleming, Jr., Perla M. Guerrero, Zenzele Isoke and Quincy T. Mills.