In July 2020, Chancellor Jones announced a $2 million annual commitment by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to focus intellectual and scholarly talent of our university to examine two of the greatest challenges facing our society and seek new solutions. Recognizing the critical need for universities across our nation to prioritize research focused on injustices that exist not only in our communities but in higher education itself, the Call to Action Research Program provides support for academic research and the expansion of community-based knowledge that advances the understanding of systemic bias.

Research Focus Areas

For 2024, the research program will focus on areas that span domestic, international, and transnational spaces.

Projects may include but are not limited to:

• Systemic interventions to improve educational outcomes and increase college readiness.
• Research that tackles the complex drivers of health disparities.
• The interrogation of systems of disparity, discrimination, and disenfranchisement.
• Transnational justice (i.e., achieving justice in issues that bridge local, national, and global communities).
• Systemic bias as it affects LGBTQIA+ people and communities.

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