The UO is launching a research platform, the Pacific Northwest Just Futures Institute for Racial and Climate Justice, made possible by an unprecedented $4.52 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation—the largest humanities award in the university’s history.

John Arroyo, an assistant professor in the College of Design’s School of Planning, Public Policy and Management, will direct the institute.

“Oregon has a dark history of racial discrimination,” Arroyo said. “The Mellon award will allow the UO and our educational and community-based partners to co-create deep and meaningful equity work that will envision—and realize—what a just future looks like for the Pacific Northwest.”

Leaders in the College of Design are partnering with leaders in the College of Arts and Sciences to form the institute and will also collaborate with other university partners as well regional partners including the University of Idaho and Whitman College.

In addition to Arroyo, the Just Futures Institute includes participation by the School of Architecture & Environment and the School of Planning, Public Policy and Management (PPPM) and faculty members including Director of Historic Preservation James Buckley, Architecture Professor of Practice Jerolim Mladinov, and PPPM Associate Professor Gerardo Sandoval.

Read more in the Around the O story, "New grant will create an institute for racial and climate justice."