The University has recently applied for a grant from the National Science Foundation to hire more women and minority faculty members. According to the the NSF Web site, the foundation is concerned that “women scientists and engineers continue to be significantly underrepresented in the science and engineering fields.” The University plans to extend the grant to include all underrepresented groups throughout the departments, not just women. The Institutional Transformation Grant is expected to recruit and retain more women and minority members in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The grant also seeks to promote females and minorities into leadership positions. Astrid Merget, University executive vice chancellor and provost, is leading the grant. Principal investigators include Rita Culross, interim director of the Department of Women and Gender Studies; Saundra McGuire, assistant dean of the University College and director of the Center for Academic Success; Kelly Rusche, assistant dean of the College of Engineering; and Isaiah Warner, vice chancellor of Strategic Initiative. Culross said she wants the grant to change the culture of the University faculty to be more family friendly and sensitive to some of the issues that are involved in hiring and keeping female and minority professionals. “If you want to attract females or minorities to a given occupation or an academic major, they need to see role models who are more like them,” Culross said. “Anytime you have a very narrow concentration of people, what you don’t get is a diversity of perspectives and opinions.” This will be University’s third attempt to apply for the NSF grant. In the last attempt, the NSF said that they didn’t have people in administrative positions running the grant.