Racial Equity Leadership Academy for STEM Faculty Leaders
A Project Funded by the Sloan Foundation
A team of racial equity researchers at the University of Southern California have designed a nine-month professional learning and strategic racial equity action planning experience for STEM faculty leaders at colleges and universities across the United States. This field advancement effort will include 250 STEM, computer science, and engineering technology faculty leaders.
Speaker
TUESDAY, december 6 at
11 Am PST/12 pm MST/2 pm est
Dr. Brandi Jones
Chief of Staff and Chief Operating Officer,
USC Race and Equity Center
CENTERING EQUITY IN STEM FACULTY DEVELOPMENT
A 2021 report by the nation's leading agency on science and engineering statistics details low workforce participation rates and educational attainment gaps for traditionally underrepresented groups - even as their shares of the US population have risen. A 2020 report by a leading financial institution details the real economic impacts of generational discrimination and lost GDP, and low-income and communities of color continue to experience the disproportionate impact of science and science policy, as a recent EPA report explains. As our communities, institutions, and country rebound from the economic and public health crises of our lifetimes, now is the time for bold, decisive, and equitable action in all sectors of the country.
Too few Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Pacific Islander, and multiracial students who start college as engineering majors ultimately persist through degree attainment in these fields. There are many explanations as to why, including underpreparedness from k-12 education and discovering of other majors, but this project focuses not on individual student-level determinants of success in engineering, but instead on racial problems that are attributable to curricula, policies, practices, cultural norms, and leadership in engineering departments.
APPROACH
Leveraging existing efforts, this project will recruit 250 STEM department chairs for participation in our nine-month Racial Equity Leadership Academy. The Academy will include nine live, virtual professional learning sessions during the 2021-22 academic school year (October through May). These monthly synchronous professional learning sessions will focus mostly on strengthening the racial literacy of department chairs and equipping them with actionable strategies that can be immediately implemented with their faculty and department staff colleagues.
ELIGIBILITY
Faculty from US colleges public and private community colleges and four-year institutions with engineering, engineering technology, and computer science programs;
STEM faculty department leaders and other faculty leaders with a DEI focus.
***due to the high-engagement nature of these virtual sessions, participants are encouraged to attend all live Academy sessions.
SESSIONS
90-minute sessions will be led by project team leaders, as well as an interdisciplinary team of STEM experts who are among the 62 professionals who teach in our USC Equity Institutes and strategically partner on Center activities. Each monthly session will include the following:
Keynote and training from Race and Equity Center expert;
Faculty Focus Rooms that provide opportunities for reflection, brainstorming, and strategy among faculty leaders;
Group work session on strategic planning with technical assistance from Center staff.
While credible research will undergird them, no session will be too theoretical, uselessly abstract, or inaccessibly academic. Instead, these learning experiences will be highly engaging and interactive. Instructors will use contemporary cases of equity dilemmas and racial problems that have occurred in STEM classrooms and labs. Emphasis will be placed on learning from sagas and missteps that have recently occurred at postsecondary institutions; learning how to get ahead of situations and reducing risk of crisis; and learning actionable equity leadership strategies.
In addition to participating in rigorous professional learning, the 250 department chairs will work together on creating strategic racial equity action plans for their respective engineering subfields. The USC Race and Equity Center will offer coaching, feedback, and support to the nine subfield teams as they design their action plans.
DATES
December 6, 2022
Leading Productive Departmental Conversations about Race and Racism for STEM Faculty
Meet the Team
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DR. KENDRICK DAVIS
Kendrick Davis, the team leader, earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering and a master’s degree in robotics. Prior to joining the USC Race and Equity Center staff, Dr. Davis served as Vice President for Research and Policy at the Campaign for College Opportunity. Professor Davis will serve as the project director and primary point of contact, and will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Academy.
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DR. SHAUN HARPER
Shaun Harper, executive director of USC’s Race & Equity Center, has published an edited volume titled Students of Color in STEM: Engineering a New Research Agenda. His anti-deficit achievement framework for the study of students of color in STEM fields has been cited in nearly 500 academic publications.
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DR. BRANDI JONES
Brandi P. Jones, chief of staff and chief operating officer of USC’s Race & Equity Center, is a national thought leader in STEM diversity. In her previous roles at USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Princeton School of Engineering and Applied Science, and California Institute of Technology, Dr. Jones provided strategic leadership for equity, diversity, inclusion, and access initiatives. Dr. Jones is a frequently sought-after expert for guidance on integrating diversity-related content across the engineering curriculum, fostering inclusive environments for students of color, and affording students opportunities for equitable engagement in high-impact educational experiences outside of engineering classrooms and labs.
Contact
Feel free to contact us with any questions.
Email
Kendrick Davis
kdavis01@usc.edu