Chancellor's Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence and Equity

March 2, 2022

 Chancellor's Office

Dear campus community,

For the past 15 years, the Chancellor's Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence and Equity (CAAIEE) has been presented to UC Berkeley faculty members for outstanding contributions in advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice (DEIBJ) – through their research, teaching, and public or university service.

It is our great pleasure to announce the two recipients of this year’s award: G. Cristina Mora, Professor of Sociology and Amani Allen, Professor and Executive Associate Dean in the School of Public Health. Both Professor Mora and Professor Allen embody the full range and depth of this award, with timely, inspiring work that has transformed their fields, the Berkeley campus, and the broader society.

Professor Mora is a pathbreaking scholar and public intellectual whose research and advocacy on Hispanic/Latinx identity construction, panethnicity, immigration politics, racial politics, and trust in government has set new agendas in the field of sociology and has made her a leading voice on these issues in both public discourse and the policy arena. Professor Mora’s recent work on the political and racial impacts of COVID in California has been particularly timely; it examines the economic, physical and mental health consequences of the pandemic, powerfully highlighting the disproportionate toll on minoritized communities. As a campus leader, Professor Mora has made exceptional contributions in support of Latinx thriving, including playing leadership roles in the Latinx Faculty Association, Latinx Research Center, Latinx and Democracy Cluster Hire process, and Berkeley’s work toward becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). For these and other efforts, she was honored with the 2020 Latinx Service Recognition Award from the Alianza Latinx Staff Association. She is also a key contributor to many additional DEIBJ initiatives, and brings a strong equity and justice lens to her role as director of Sociology’s Berkeley Connect program and co-director of the Institute for Governmental Studies. In addition to Professor Mora’s research and campus service, she is an inspiring teacher, and a generous, deeply valued mentor and role model to Berkeley students, particularly those from first-generation, Latinx, and other underrepresented backgrounds.

Professor Allen is a nationally and internationally recognized expert on racial health disparities. Her innovative research focuses on measuring racism as a social determinant of health and on exploring the psychobiological mechanisms by which racism gets into the body. Her intersectional work integrates gender and class as well as race, and has made vital impacts on both the biomedical field and local, state and national communities. As Executive Associate Dean in the School of Public Health, Professor Allen has provided visionary leadership on issues of racial justice and antiracist transformation, spearheading BPH’s Anti-Racist Community for Justice and Social Transformative Change (ARC 4 JSTC) program. ARC 4 JSTC is a comprehensive, multiyear change effort, covering faculty/staff development, student experience, curriculum/pedagogy, outreach, and community engagement. The program has generated enormous interest and commitment throughout the school, and offers a model for other campus organizations. In her 17 years at Berkeley, Professor Allen has served on numerous campuswide DEIBJ councils, committees, and initiatives, including among others: Chancellor’s Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture and Inclusion; Diversity, Equity and Campus Climate committee of the Academic Senate; Chancellor’s Committee on Students of Color and Multicultural Engagement; and the African American Initiative Implementation Committee. At the UC systemwide level, she has provided leadership on affirmative action, bias, discrimination, faculty diversity, and women’s professional development. Like Professor Mora, Professor Allen is an outstanding teacher and a beloved mentor to countless students and junior faculty of color, including in her current role as core advisor in the Faculty Link program.

Professor Allen plans to use the $10,000 CAAIEE award grant to support the School of Public Health’s new Restoring Professional Accountability in Relationships (RePAIR) program, a schoolwide training program for implementing restorative justice, with a lens on healing interpersonal relationships.

Professor Mora will use her grant to launch a new podcast highlighting the research and voices of Latina faculty, as well as to support community- and trust-building events for students studying challenging issues of inequality, and to complete a timely book on race, politics and economic anxiety in California.

Please see the recent Berkeley News story, “How embracing your lived experiences can change the world,”  for additional highlights about both recipients and their inspiring work. 

Contributions that advance equity, inclusion, diversity, belonging and justice are essential to maintaining UC Berkeley's preeminence as a world-class academic institution. We are proud to work with both of these visionary leaders, and to have the opportunity to present them with this year’s Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence and Equity. Please join us in congratulating Professors Mora and Allen.

Carol T. Christ
Chancellor
Dania Matos
Vice Chancellor for Equity & Inclusion

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