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Provost Gretchen Ritter today announced the members of the Cluster Hire Initiative Working Group. The working group report, to be delivered in January 2022, will include a review of each individual cluster and the program as a whole.

Cluster hires are hires of multiple scholars into at least two schools/colleges in related areas, based on shared, multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary research interests. Cluster hires and academic cluster creation serve to align the University’s research to extramural funding trends, strengthen research, scholarship and creative activity, enhance faculty diversity and develop opportunities for student research and learning that responds to societal challenges. Seven interdiscipliary clusters were originally created in 2018 through a faculty-led process. Three additional clusters were designated in early 2020.

The purpose of the working group’s review is to ensure the program is structured to meet its original objectives. These include aligning research to extramural funding trends, increasing research, scholarship and creative productivity, fostering valuable and sustainable interdisciplinary programs, and bringing new scholars into the University’s areas of existing or emerging distinctive excellence.

The working group is co-chaired by Jamie Winders, professor of geography and the environment and director of the Autonomous Systems Policy Institute, and Cole Smith, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Other members include:

• Duncan Brown (ex officio), Charles Brightman Endowed Professor of Physics, College of Arts and Sciences; chair of the Senate Committee on Research
• Carol Faulkner, professor of history, associate dean for academic affairs, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
• Lisa Manning, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Physics, College of Arts and Sciences; director of the BioInspired Institute
• Katherine McDonald, professor of public health and associate dean of research, Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics
• Ramesh Raina (ex officio), professor of biology, College of Arts and Sciences; interim vice president for research
• P. Raj, Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Chair, Department of Marketing, Martin J. Whitman School of Management
• Dacheng Ren, Stevenson Endowed Professor of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and associate dean for research and graduate programs, College of Engineering and Computer Science
• Danielle Smith, professor of African American studies, College of Arts and Sciences; director of the Renée Crown University Honors Program