The Office of the Provost supports an array of initiatives that enhance the university’s academic excellence. Our combination of strong schools and colleges, interdisciplinary research centers, and educational innovation enables us to recognize emerging ideas and foster their development.
Anti-Racism Initiatives
The initiatives are designed to further advance the university’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion; anti-racism education; and the DEI Strategic Plan. The initiatives build on the extensive and ongoing work across U-M campus.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Plan
The DEI strategic plan for the Office of the Provost represents a component of a broader effort undertaken by U-M to create sustainable change within our academic institution. Within that broader effort, our DEI planning approach builds upon four pillars which include strategic objectives, planned activities, and measures of success. The four pillars include: Recruitment, Retention, and Development; Education and Scholarship; Promoting an Equitable and Inclusive Community; and Service.
Early Tenure-Track Faculty Research Support Initiative
The Provost’s Early Tenure-Track Faculty Research Support Initiative provides flexible funds to support tenure-track faculty from the Ann Arbor campus as they undertake research, scholarship, and creative practice that has been slowed or postponed by the constraints of the pandemic.
Humanities Collaboratory
The Humanities Collaboratory is a bold investment by the university in collaborative, multi-generational, transformational humanities scholarship for the academy and the world beyond. Born in the Office of the Provost, housed in LSA, and located in the Hatcher Graduate Library, the Humanities Collaboratory gives singularly generous grants to support innovative and ambitious forms of humanities scholarship.
Interprofessional Health Education
The driving force behind Interprofessional Education (IPE) is to promote the development of skilled expert teams of collaborative care practitioners who positively impact the delivery of high-quality, safe, and effective health care services. With renewed support from the Office of the Provost and deans of the 10 U-M health science colleges and schools, The Center for Interprofessional Education is focusing through 2026 on four areas: better health, better patient experience, lower cost, and improved provider well-being.
Responding to Threats and Harassment of Faculty
The University of Michigan is taking several steps as part of a larger effort to address growing concerns and experiences of harassment, threats and intimidation against faculty members as a result of their research or academic work.
Student Mental Health
The University of Michigan is adopting new and innovative approaches to continue its focus on student mental health and well-being with resources targeting the holistic needs of students using a multidimensional approach and increased compassion.
Student Success
The purpose of this initiative is to promote the academic success of undergraduates at the University of Michigan as critical to their student experience and educational goal attainment. This requires focus on the whole student – on the interrelationships among their mental health and well-being, their engagement in the life of the university, and their academic success. Academic success means that each student experiences high quality learning, as measured by the achievement of learning outcomes in their major, attains degree completion, as measured by four- and six-year graduation rates, and achieves their educational goals, as assessed by the realization of their desired progression in life and career.