Professor Tracy Johnson receives the 2016-2017 Faculty Career Commitment to Diversity DEI Award

April 10, 2017

The Academic Senate and its Committee on Diversity and Equal Opportunity (CODEO) take great pleasure in announcing the recipients of the 2016-2017 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Awards. Each year, CODEO honors one undergraduate student, one graduate student, one staff and up to four faculty members for their contributions to furthering a diverse, impartial, and inclusive environment at UCLA. The selection of these winners is often difficult as each of the many candidates nominated for these awards have made enormous contributions to encouraging that environment in important and innovative ways. This year’s selection was no exception.

Faculty Career Commitment to Diversity DEI Award Recipient
Tracy Johnson, professor of Molecular Cell and Development Biology is this year’s Faculty Career Commitment to Diversity DEI Award recipient. Dr. Johnson, a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator has been instrumental in establishing and supporting the Organization of African-American Students Excelling in STEM (OASES), a program that supports the success of African-American and other minorities in science. She also established a research-based program for first year science majors from underrepresented and underserved groups. As the Life Sciences Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence, and co-chair of the Life Sciences Diversity Advisory Committee, Dr. Johnson has plaid a major role in making Life Sciences a campus and national leader in diversity and inclusive excellence. Her work has been the driving force for the requirement of a statement on contributions to diversity and inclusion in all faculty merit and promotion dossiers. Finally, Dr. Johnson has developed strategies to achieve excellence in pedagogy and scholarship through diversity and inclusion and was part of a small group of campus faculty who contributed to the passage of the College of Letters and Science Diversity Course requirement.