Building Community to Confront Extremism

Announcement

A Message from Vice Chancellor Haynes header

Dear campus community,

The Office of Inclusive Excellence invites proposals on "Building Community to Confront Extremism" as part of the Confronting Extremism Program. This funding opportunity is open to Senate faculty and to directors of student resource centers at UCI. The deadline has been extended to June 4, 2021.

View additional details and submit proposals no later than 5 p.m. PT on Friday, June 4, at:

https://uciadvance.wufoo.com/forms/qma33w5001bt2b/

Lessons from the current pandemic showed us fractures at key intersections of community, thriving, and wellness due to magnified inequities in health, economic and other social systems. As the three pillars of community, thriving, and wellness are considered foundational to current UCI efforts for inclusive excellence, the Office of Inclusive Excellence invites projects aligned to address UCI community needs while confronting extreme ideology, practices, policies and systems that are far outside of the norms for verdant and democratic values. Central to all submissions should be a focus on inclusive excellence, and its aims to practice equity and inclusion of diverse members to realize social justice outcomes.

Sincerely,

Douglas M. Haynes, Ph.D. (Pronouns: he/him/his)
Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Chief Diversity Officer
Director, ADVANCE Program
Professor of History

Call for Proposals

Office of Inclusive Excellence Confronting Extremism Program
Call for Senate Faculty and Student Resource Center Proposals:
Building Community to Confront Extremism

The Confronting Extremism Program in the Office of Inclusive Excellence solicits proposals to enact positive change in the community and climate at UCI.

We inhabit a world where extremism co-exists with our aspirations for a better society. We are calling on the UCI community to harness the mission of the University, to define the contours of extremism and to propose ways to fortify an inclusive community.

Lessons from the current pandemic showed us fractures at key intersections of community, thriving, and wellness due to magnified inequities in health, economic, and other social systems. As the three pillars of community, thriving, and wellness are considered foundational to current UCI efforts for inclusive excellence, the Office of Inclusive Excellence invites projects aligned to address UCI community needs while confronting extreme ideology, practices, policies and systems that are far outside of the norms for verdant and democratic values. Central to all submissions should be a focus on inclusive excellence, and its aims to practice equity and inclusion of diverse members to realize social justice outcomes.

The concept of extremism is often linked to political, religious, or other ideologies set apart from the norm and far exceeding mainstream values. For the purposes of this call, extremism should be considered as those ideas, practices, policies, and systems that erode the founding values of UCI and its land-grant mission to advance inclusive community. As a campus, we seek to create a community where all expect equity, support diversity, practice inclusion, and honor free speech.

Proposal Types

Competitive proposals must explore or build on current evidence-based practices in at least one of the following areas:

(1) develop and share new knowledge, practices, scholarship/research, creative projects, conferences, workshops, installations or other forums to examine the nature of evidence on extremism and to implement aligned rationale and actions in the UCI community on confronting extremism toward measurable outcomes, etc.

(2) improve pedagogy and/or training among UCI constituents, including instruction on practices to improve how definitions or topics related to extremism are derived and measured, what practices best support proposed strategies for engaging with community members about topics, etc.

(3) advance engagement of UCI members and broader community through evidence-based approaches to foster authentic and inclusive learning toward aligned rationale and measurable outcomes for confronting extremism, etc.

Successful proposals will reflect projects that engage across multiple communities, rather than only one community at UCI: students, postdoctoral scholars, faculty, and staff. Proposal topics may focus on such issues as testing evidence-based strategies in addressing extremism to provide comprehensive pathways for community building at UCI, inventorying the nature of popular extremism affecting UCI community and approaches for common goal setting and actions to create greater equity and/or inclusion in this regard, and implementing engagement policies and practices to broaden community awareness and actions  that enhance resiliency and protective measures and/or reduce risk and challenges to community. All projects must align with the UCI Action Plan for Inclusive Excellence.

Project Duration

To ensure that projects may be implemented with appropriate advance planning, selected projects are funded for an 18-month period, with the use of funds ending no later than December 31, 2022.

Type of Projects Funded/Fund Use

Projects may range from forums and workshops, case study of strategic decision making, or direct interventions, service expansions, or innovative programming, and research to support UCI members across multiple constituencies (students, staff, faculty, postdoctoral scholars).

Funding must be used solely for project activities according to UCI policies governing state funds. Fund use may include summer ninths salary, if applicable, equipment, presentation fees, learning tools, and resources. Funds also may be used for one-time stipend salary stipends or direct payments to UCI undergraduates or UCI graduate students or other students, but not for fee remission. Funds may be used for event-related gift cards and honoraria.

Competitive proposals will be funded up to $10,000 per project.

Review Process

Submissions will be prioritized by a Review Committee, accompanied by recommendations for funding. Total funding is subject to change and based on the funds available at the time of all funding decisions.  The Office of Inclusive Excellence expects to fund a total of 15 single-lead or multiple-lead resource projects.

Proposal Components

Only complete proposals will be considered; incomplete proposals will be returned without review.

Complete proposals must include: completed form submitted online and one PDF proposal of a maximum of two typed pages with the following components:

  • Abstract/Project Summary of no more than 150 words
  • Statement of Need/Project Purpose and Goals
  • Project Activities, Approaches, and Expected Outcomes, inclusive of a project timeline for the entire period of operations, UCI members engaged
  • Evaluation/Assessment Plan for measurable outcomes
  • Significance of the Project
  • Plans for Dissemination
  • Budget and Budget Narrative detailing expenses for the entire period of operations

Deadlines

Complete proposals must be submitted no later than 5 p.m. (Pacific time) on Friday, June 4, 2021 (Deadline extended)

Review Criteria

Nominations will be reviewed by invited UCI leadership group consisting of faculty and staff members across diverse and inclusive projects. Successful proposals will reflect the following review priorities.

The extent to which the proposed project:

Contributes to knowledge and actions related to confronting extremism at UCI

Advances the university’s standing and impact for the UCI Action Plan for Inclusive Excellence;

Builds on existing strengths and/or pave new paths related;

Catalyzes new interschool or campuswide collaborations and attendant initiatives;

Enhances graduate and undergraduate education (i.e., contributes directly to undergraduate education in the classroom or outside of the classroom in addition to mentoring undergraduate and graduate students in the generation of new knowledge);

Implementation Requirements

Lead Contacts for all projects funded from this call accept responsibilities to:

  • Provide image(s) and abstracts for online project promotion
  • Complete mid-year and annual project updates on expenses and advancement of project goals
  • Request advance approval from the Office of Inclusive Excellence in writing for any changes in fund uses or funded project activities; approval response must be provided in writing by the Office of Inclusive Excellence to proceed with desired changes
  • Participate in a video-recorded interview and public forum to communicate findings and project outcomes
  • Complete a Project Use Report and expend all funds by December 30, 2022. Make arrangements for return of all unexpended awarded funds by December 30, 2022.

Building Community to Confront Extremism Talks

The Confronting Extremism Program in the Office of Inclusive Excellence invited students, faculty, staff and community members to join in-person for the Building Community Talks on May 12, 2022.

What are the best strategies to build community amid extreme ideologies and behaviors that are far outside of the norms for verdant and democratic values? We inhabit a world where extremism co-exists with our aspirations for a better society. In this public forum, awardees from several Confronting Extremism project grants provide TED-style brief presentations about the key learning from their pilots and interventions to enhance community engagement, actions and support for social justice, diversity, and equity.

Additional Materials

2021 Awards

2021 Building Community to Confront Extremism Awardees

Project Lead Project titleUnit
Audra Eagle Yun, head of Special Collections & ArchivesRoRR OC: Records of Resistance and Resilience in Orange CountyUCI Libraries
Ed E-Nunu, director of Sorority & Fraternity LifeInteractive Education through Theatre of the Oppressed: The New Weaponization of Cancel Culture – Silencing Extremism or Asserting ValuesDivision of Student Affairs
Michele Bratcher Goodwin, Chancellor’s Professor of LawBuilding Community to Confront Extremism: Community Health after ViolenceSchool of Law
Matthias LehmannUndergraduate Fellows in Jewish StudiesCenter for Jewish Studies
Mandy Mount, directorUCI Care: Building Safer and More Equitable Communities through Violence Prevention and Holistic HealingUCI CARE
Rossella Santagata, professor of EducationTheater of Resilience: Engaging UCI and Local Communities in Collaborative Writing and PerformanceSchool of Education
Constance Steinkuehler, professor of InformaticsBuilding Community: Confronting Extremism in Online GamesDonald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences
Naomi Sugie, associate professor of Criminology, Law and SocietyPrisonPandemic: Centering Incarcerated People’s Voices during COVID-19School of Social Ecology
Adriana Villavicencio, assistant professor of EducationConfronting Extremism through Culturally Responsive Pedagogies in a STEM Educator ProgramSchool of Education
Julie Youm, assistant dean of Education, Compliance and QualityREAD what is SAID: An Inter-professional Approach to Clinical AssessmentUCI Health Affairs Office of Education
Sean Young, associate professor of Emergency MedicineHackathon to Explore Solutions to Racial/Ethnic/Religious Bias, Discrimination, and ExtremismSchool of Medicine

 

Building Community to Confront Extremism Talks