New interim director named for the Black Cultural Center

The UIC Black Cultural Center (BCC) has announced that Jeremiah Abiade, PhD, associate professor in the UIC Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, has agreed to serve as interim director this fall.

“I am excited about the prospect of working with the Black Cultural Center staff to continue and enhance programming that connects the various efforts on campus to build community for Black students, faculty and staff,” Abiade asserted.

During his time at UIC, Abiade has participated and lead various DEI efforts, including the recruitment of outstanding faculty candidates to UIC STEM departments and the mentorship of both non-tenure and tenure-track STEM faculty. His efforts at UIC have been particularly focused on dismantling non-evidence-based admissions practices that have a disproportionate and negative impact on Black students. He lead the UIC Faculty Senate Committee that sponsored a resolution that was eventually passed and adopted to utilize holistic application review in undergraduate admission, and has lead and collaborated on efforts to increase enrollment, retention and graduation rates of minoritized students in various STEM programs.

Abiade has served as the executive director of the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program and is currently the UIC site coordinator for the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program. He is also the faculty director for the UIC DuSable Scholars Program, which has emerged as a national model for recruitment and support of talented Black students in STEM at research-intensive institutions.