Collaboration and Equity

Through the power of collaboration UMass ADVANCE provides knowledge driven research and solutions for faculty equity. ADVANCE research and learning identifies effective strategies to promote the equitable collaboration that drives inclusive excellence in the 21st century academy. 

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Who We Are

UMass ADVANCE is an interdisciplinary, faculty-led network that develops and supports campus-driven research and programming as the drivers of faculty equity on our campus. We include a Leadership Team and Faculty Fellows network, and we work with leadership partners across campus.  

Leadership Team Leadership Team Faculty Fellows Faculty Fellows 2026 Faculty Peer Mentor Award and EPiC Award Recipients 2026 Faculty Peer Mentor Award and EPiC Award Recipients
Headshots of four women on ADVANCE Leadership Team: Paige Warren, Jennifer Normanly, Jess Dillard-Wright, and Ximena Zuniga

UMass ADVANCE Leadership Transitions for Faculty Equity

UMass ADVANCE is pleased to share and celebrate several important transitions in the leadership of our interdisciplinary, faculty-led network promoting research and practice to support faculty equity on our campus and beyond.

Please join us in celebrating these and all ADVANCE leaders.

In the news

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Photograph of Dr. Waded Cruzado, a smiling white Latinx woman with gray hair and glasses, behind a podium bearing the sign "University of Massachusetts Amherst"

"When leaders are at their best..." APLU President celebrates and inspires UMass ADVANCE community

This year's UMass ADVANCE Annual Distinguished Lecture was delivered by Dr. Waded Cruzado, president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. Cruzado, who served as president of the Montana State University system before assuming her current role, paid tribute to the winners of the 2026 Faculty Peer Mentoring Awards and the Equitable Practices in Collaboration (EPiC) Award, and to the community that gathered to celebrate their leadership. Her address, "Leaders Needed: Why Public Higher Education Matters," reminded participants of the deeply democratic values that inspired the creation of the national network of land-grant universities (of which UMass is an exemplar), and of the opportunities we all have to lead in ways that protect the transformative promise of fair, inclusive and empowering public higher education.

“When leaders are at their best, they do five things: they model the way; they inspire a shared vision; they challenge the process; they allow others to act; and they encourage the heart.”

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Cassidy R Sugimoto

Video Highlight: Equity for Women in Science

Presented by Dr. Cassidy R. Sugimoto, professor and Tom and Marie Patton Chair in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology. Sugimoto discusses key findings from her book, co-written with Vincent Lariviere, “Equity for Women in Science,” which is the first large-scale empirical analysis of the global gender gap in science.

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$3.76 m
$3.1 m NSF Grant and $660k UMass Amherst institutional funding of campus-based research & practice for faculty equity.
300+
Faculty Fellows from 58 departments who have partnered with ADVANCE to inform and promote our equity programs and policies.
118
Number of faculty honored for peer mentoring (64) and equitable practices in collaboration (54).
45
Research publications and faculty survey reports.
32
Tools supporting leaders making equitable change in practices, policies and culture.
126
Workshops and seminars. Plus 7 distinguished lectures for faculty and leaders to change culture an implement policies.

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If you need further assistance locating relevant support, please contact us at [email protected].