AAC&U Receives $777,339 in Grant Funding to Support Its Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers Effort

Washington, DC—The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) announced today that it has received funding in the total amount of $777,339 to support the establishment of fifteen new Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers, bringing the total number of centers to forty-four.

AAC&U has received an award of $400,000 from Lumina Foundation to support the establishment of eight new TRHT Campus Centers; an award of $247,339 from the Trellis Foundation to support four new centers in Texas; and an award of $50,000 from Wiley Education Services, part of John Wiley and Sons, Inc., to support one new center. The host institutions for these thirteen new TRHT Campus Centers will be selected through a competitive process. In addition, AAC&U has received an award of $80,000 from ETS to support the establishment of two new TRHT Campus Centers in New Jersey, one each at Rutgers University–Camden and Mercer County Community College. Each of the fifteen new host institutions will receive an initial subaward to launch its TRHT Campus Center.

“AAC&U is grateful to these funders for their commitment to, and investment in, racial equity and healing on our campuses and in our communities,” said AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella. “We are thrilled by this opportunity to expand the network of TRHT Campus Centers and to broaden the impact of this vital work.”

Through ongoing campus-community engagement, TRHT Campus Centers play a key role in the national TRHT effort to address historical and contemporary effects of racism and to plan for, and bring about, transformational and sustainable change. Established in partnership with AAC&U and hosted by colleges and universities across the United States, these community-integrated, campus-based centers pursue the shared goal of preparing the next generation of leaders and thinkers to break down racial hierarchies and to dismantle the belief in a hierarchy of human value.

“In 2017, when we partnered with the first ten institutions to host TRHT Campus Centers, we knew then, as we know now, that eliminating racism within our institutions and our communities takes intentional and focused efforts that are structural and systemic,” said Tia McNair, AAC&U’s Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director of the TRHT Campus Centers. “Our part in this effort in preparing the next generation of leaders in building just and equitable communities, hopefully, will make a difference toward lasting change.”

Teams from the fifteen institutions selected as sites for the new TRHT Campus Centers will attend the 2021 Virtual Institute on TRHT Campus Centers, at which they will develop action plans to support their strategic goals and implement TRHT efforts across their campuses. The teams will return for the 2022 Institute and further refine their plans. The new host institutions will also have access to a national evaluator, who will work with the campus teams on the evaluation components of their implementation plans.

About AAC&U

AAC&U is the leading national association dedicated to advancing the vitality and public standing of liberal education by making quality and equity the foundations for excellence in undergraduate education in service to democracy. Its members are committed to extending the advantages of a liberal education to all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Founded in 1915, AAC&U now comprises more than 1,200 member institutions—including accredited public and private colleges, community colleges, research universities, and comprehensive universities of every type and size.

AAC&U functions as a catalyst and facilitator, forging links among presidents, administrators, faculty, and staff engaged in institutional and curricular planning. Through a broad range of activities, AAC&U reinforces the collective commitment to liberal education at the national, local, and global levels. Its high-quality programs, publications, research, meetings, institutes, public outreach efforts, and campus-based projects help individual institutions ensure that the quality of student learning is central to their work as they evolve to meet new economic and social challenges.