What is it?
Transforming Academia for Equity (TAE), funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), is an initiative designed to unpack, understand and shape the contextual and intervening conditions necessary for underrepresented scholars in schools and programs of public health to thrive personally and professionally. Success with this work will mean that scholars can contribute to and expand health equity-related research and evidence to help build a Culture of Health for all.
Seven grantees from college-/university-level schools and programs of public health currently participate in the TAE initiative. Each grantee institution engages a guiding team and, in shared leadership, works to identify and address adaptive challenges that stand in the way of moving beyond historically oppressive academic environments to a future that supports the scholars who contribute to health equity through their community-based research efforts.
What Change Matrix does
CM leads the Coordinating Center that supports the seven grantees currently participating in the TAE initiative. We offer grantee guiding teams a structured process and adaptive change support including coaching, consultation, and liaising opportunities with other institutions throughout the funding period. We also support grantee’s connection with the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health to help disseminate learnings from the initiative to the broader public health field and encourage grantees’ participation in an external evaluation of RWJF’s learning portfolio.
Why we love this work
This project exemplifies many of CM’s values, including those focused on justice and equity, culture and diversity, relationships, community, and excellence and integrity. Through TAE, we have supported institutions in navigating adaptive challenges, using shared leadership models and iterative planning to address deeply rooted structural barriers. This experience has underscored the importance of centering historically excluded voices, co-developing solutions with guiding teams, and embedding equity into both processes and outcomes. These practices directly inform our strategy development sessions, leadership coaching, and sustainability planning to ensure lasting, systemic change grounded in inclusive and participatory principles. It is an honor to learn from and grow with this initiative.
