UM Intersect
STRIDE
ASPIRED created the STRIDE committee at the UofM to develop and share strategies for the proactive recruitment of women faculty, especially URM women and underrepresented groups with the ultimate goal of increasing the hiring, retention and promotion of STEM women.
STRIDE Committee
STRIDE committee members are senior faculty drawn from across two colleges (College of Arts and Sciences and College of Engineering).
Esra Ozdenerol
Earth Sciences
Committee Chair
Faculty Bio
Joel Bumgardner
Biomedical Engineering
Faculty Bio
Chrysanthe Preza
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Faculty Bio
Laura C. Taylor
School of Social Work
Kristoffer Scott Berlin 
Amy de Jongh Curry
Firouzeh Sabri
STRIDE Workshops
STRIDE workshops are intended for search committees to learn about best practices
to ensure a fair and equitable search process – for example in producing diverse candidate
pools and in hiring selected candidates. To learn more about STRIDE workshops and
to see available times click here.
Our workshops will start Spring 2022.
Welcome Packet
ASPIRED welcome packet is an online resource presented as an awareness initiative to address the lack of work-life-family integration.
Tiger-Lilly Collective
ASPIRED established the Tiger-Lilly Collective (TLC) theatre group, which gets its name from Lilly Ledbetter, the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case for equal pay for women that eventually prompted President Obama to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. This name connects the UM Tigers with this pioneer and this important piece of legislation. TLC performances will educate audiences by catching them off-guard and illustrating in real time and using common scenarios how gender biases play out in their own lives. TLC actors are UofM students with Jacob Allen, chair of Theater department, directing the interactive sketches.
Department Climate Improvement Workshops
In Spring 2021, the ASPIRED team will conduct surveys and interviews to learn more about the climate of UofM STEM departments. In the following two consecutive years, $1,000 annual grants will be provided to all STEM departments to implement climate improvement projects based on the results of their self-studies. These interventions will focus on helping to create climates that are inclusive and responsive to the needs of women and URM faculty—potentially reducing feelings of isolation and reducing hostility and discrimination based on gender and/or minority status.
Department Climate Improvement Grants
ASPIRED is pleased to introduce the 2021 Department Climate Improvement Grant (DCIG) program. Specifically, these grants provide an opportunity for STEM department teams to do a self-study and create evidence-informed projects tailored to each department's needs in regard to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The projects are eligible for an award of up to $1,000.
Examples of activities that could be supported by the DCIGs include, but not limited to, symposia or series, search committee training, bias awareness and reduction training, capacity building, policy review and reform, and recruitment and pipeline efforts.
Request for Proposals
The 2021 DCIG Request for Proposals will be posted on this website. This is the first
of two (annual) request for proposals.
Questions related to the grant or the submission process should be directed to aspired@memphis.edu.