UCI Black Thriving Initiative Cluster Hiring Program
Advancing the Well-Being of Black Communities
The UCI Black Thriving Initiative Faculty Cluster Hiring Program recruited scholars that focus on understanding anti-Blackness and interrogate structural racism in its myriad forms, such as:
- The lived experience of anti-Black racism and associated inequalities in diverse institutional domains
- The collateral consequences of racism, historically and in the present era
- Public policy solutions to structural racism in criminal justice, education, the built and natural environment, health and wellness, urban planning, etc.
This program was designed to build on the hiring priorities of UCI’s academic units while paving new paths for research and creative expression, teaching and learning and community engagement.
Infrastructure Equity Cluster
The Infrastructure Equity BTI Cluster initiative builds on existing strengths to position UCI as a national leader in addressing social, environmental, and racial disparities in infrastructure planning, design, and implementation. Historically, the negative impacts of infrastructure investments have been disproportionately borne by Black communities and other marginalized groups.
Website: https://sites.uci.edu/iecluster/
Director – Professor Doug Houston – houston@uci.edu
Faculty hired through the BTI cluster initiative:
Dominic Bednar – Assistant Professor, School of Social Ecology, Department of Urban Planning & Public Policy
Elisa Borowski – Assistant Professor, School of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering
Veena Dubal – Professor, School of Law
Leonard Ohenhen – Assistant Professor, School of Physical Sciences, Department of Earth System Science (begins July 1, 2025)
Poetic Justice Cluster
At every crucial juncture in our nation’s history, Black authors, artists and other creative workers, especially from Los Angeles and the greater Southern California region, have produced new narratives, images and social practices that challenge systemic anti-black racism and affirm Black life and humanity. Their works, broadly conceptualized by the term poetic justice, elevate the level of public conversation on how the history of slavery, segregation, and mass incarceration directly affect virtually every civic and social institution, including higher education. Hiring under the theme of poetic justice, our Cluster will build stronger connections between UCI and community-based institutions that focus on the production and preservation of Black history, culture and art. Focusing on this nexus between UCI and California’s cultural economy, poetic justice will support the creative talents of Black Southern Californians, students, faculty, staff and other system-impacted people on our campus and beyond, build sustainable arts and culture industry careers, and promote campus- and societal-level visions of reparative justice.
Website: https://sites.uci.edu/poeticjustice/
Co-directors for 2024-25 are:
Associate Professor Mercy Romero – mercyr@uci.edu
Assistant Professor Coleman Collins – colemac@uci.edu
Faculty hired through the BTI program:
J. Kameron Carter, Professor of African American Studies https://www.humanities.uci.edu/news/school-humanities-welcomes-ten-new-faculty and https://www.humanities.uci.edu/afam/people/core-faculty
Coleman Collins, Assistant Professor, Claire Trevor School of the Arts, Department of Studio Art https://art.arts.uci.edu/coleman-collins
Mercy Romero, Associate Professor, School of Social Ecology, Department of Criminology, Law and Society https://socialecology.uci.edu/news/social-ecology-welcomes-3-new-faculty
Kalinda Ukanwa, Assistant Professor of Business
Eraldo Souza dos Santos, Assistant Professor of Criminology, Law and Society as of July 1, 2025 https://eraldosouzadossantos.com/
Environmental Health Disparities Cluster
Vision
An environmentally and socially just society where Black and historically marginalized communities thrive with health equity.
Mission
To build research, educational, and community programs that support health equity and social justice.
Values
Our actions are centered on the principles of equity, belonging and community collaboration. We champion justice for communities made vulnerable by environmental injustice.
The Center for Environmental Health Disparities Research (CEHDR) is an interdisciplinary research center based in the Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health at UC Irvine Public Health at UC Irvine. CEHDR was founded in 2021 as a result of the UC Irvine Black Thriving Initiative Faculty Cluster Hiring Program to expand scholarship focused on the experiences of Black American communities as they relate to environmental justice. The center has 29 affiliated faculty spanning a range of disciplines across UC Irvine, including Public Health, Medicine, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Urban Planning and Public Policy, Nursing, Anthropology, and Pharmacy. CEHDR is directed by Dr. Karen D. Lincoln and supported by Dr. Bryan Gaines, the Center Coordinator.
Website: https://sites.uci.edu/cehdr/
Director – Dr. Karen Lincoln – kdlincol@uci.edu
FACULTY hired through the BTI program and links to their websites.
Jason Douglas – Associate Professor, Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health, Department of Health, Society and Behavior
Shakira Hobbs – Assistant Professor, School of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering
Karen Lincoln – Professor, Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, CEHDR Director
Antonio Tomas – Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, Department of Anthropology