In 1986, the Bloomington Faculty Council expressed its
commitment to
increasing the presence of minority faculty on the Bloomington campus
by establishing the Minority Faculty Fellowship Program. Sponsored by
the IU Vice-President and Chancellor's office, MFFP has just completed
its eleventh successful year. Since its inception, a total of
fifty-nine fellows and thirty-one I.U.B. departments have participated
in the program. Some former fellows are now full-time faculty members
at IUB and some of the other branches of the IU system.
Directed by Alberto Torchinsky, Dean of Latino Affairs and a professor in the Mathematics Department, the Minority Faculty Fellowship Program brings African American, Hispanic American and Native American scholars to the campus for summer or academic-year appointments. The program's primary goals are to increase minority representation on the Bloomington campus, to introduce promising new scholars to the academic departments and programs here, and to give minority scholars an opportunity to gain experience by teaching and conducting research at one of the top-ranked research universities in the country.