Bridge to Faculty

title Heading link

Bridge to Faculty (B2F) is a recruitment program designed to attract underrepresented postdoctoral scholars with the goal of a direct transition to a tenure-track junior faculty position after two years. This recruitment initiative aims to attract and retain promising scholars to UIC as well as diversify our faculty, with particular emphasis on departments with low or no presence of faculty who are underrepresented in their field. B2F uses a cohort model, where postdoctoral scholars participate together in meetings and tailored workshops to prepare them to teach, establish a research program and support their ability to pursue grants, and create productive mentor relationships.

Departments interested in hosting a B2F Scholar must complete an application detailing the rationale for their interest in participating in the program and must provide a plan for mentoring and supporting an incoming B2F Scholar, expectations for evaluating Scholar progress through the two-year postdoctoral period, and a plan for transitioning the Scholar into a faculty position after the postdoctoral period. Departments selected to participate in the program conduct competitive searches to select and hire B2F Scholars. Resources for the postdoctoral positions and the faculty hires that result are provided by UIC’s central administration.

B2F is funded by the Chancellor’s Office and administered through the Office of the Provost. For more information please contact Angela Walden (walden1@uic.edu), Assistant Vice Chancellor of Diversity Initiatives, in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Engagement

Apply for the B2F Program - Learn more here!

Support Our Scholar! Heading link

April 19, 2023 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM [Virtual Event]

Join us as Bridge to Faculty (B2F) scholars share their experiences and respective research with the UIC community. Through an intersectional lens, these scholars reveal the complexity and specificity of their contemporary research and how the lives of those in the margins are impacted.

Dr. Ignacio Escalante Meza from the Department of Biological Sciences will discuss previous research on the behavioral ecology of daddy long-legs from Costa Rica and ongoing projects to study these arachnids in Chicago and Cook County. His research integrates questions & approaches from animal behavior, ecology, communication, biomechanics, and physiology to explore how and why animals perform the behaviors we observe.

Learn More & RSVP