Academic Career Enhancement for Underrepresented Faculty in Engineering

目前工程专业师资多样性的缺乏对老龄化师资队伍的更替、少数族裔学生的保留、多元化劳动力的发展以及国家的福祉构成了严重威胁。在过去的几十年里，这个具有挑战性的问题得到了解决，但收效甚微，部分原因是影响未被充分代表的少数民族教师职业发展的复杂而相互关联的因素。我们需要制定策略来增加少数族裔教师的数量和职业成功，以确保工程领域的多样性和国家竞争力。目标和活动与NSF的使命密切相关，即扩大工程领域未被充分代表的人群的参与和成功。在工程领域的学术队伍中，有色人种代表着一个小得惊人、未开发和服务不足的群体。这种状况告知了拟议项目的目标，即提高工程领域代表性不足的初级和中期职业教师的存在，社会化，保留和发展。该项目旨在通过以下目标实现这些目标：1)为未被充分代表的早期和中期职业教师制定和实施一系列全面的职业发展计划；2)实施对影响这些教员的发展和进步的实践和政策的研究。该项目包括专业/领导力发展部分，根据现有知识，帮助代表性不足的教员取得成功。还有一个研究部分，目的是增加关于职业发展问题的国家知识库。该项目的主要特点包括：年度专业/领导力发展研讨会，在线社区的形成（例如，使用美国国家科学基金会资助的国家教师公平研究所网站，网络研讨会等），在专业协会会议上组织网络，高级学者的积极参与以及多年参与的机会。此外，研讨会将作为一个论坛，对影响代表性不足的教员在学术界经历的因素进行混合方法研究。在此脉络下，本项目将探讨以下研究问题：哪些个人和系统因素促进和/或阻碍了URM教师的进步和进步？在URM教员的经历中，什么是显著的组内差异？(例如，外国出生的黑人教师与美国出生的同行在学院的经历有何不同？西班牙裔教师的经历因其原籍国而有何不同？URM教师过去的专业发展经历如何影响他们现在对挑战和机遇的反应？本计划将有助于少数族裔工程学院的成功和发展，从而提高他们的参与度和保留率，并增加他们的职级。这些少数族裔的增加提高了教师的多样性，并提供了榜样和自我形象，有助于提高所有学生的招聘、保留和最终的成功——特别是那些来自工程劳动力中代表性不足的群体的学生——这对于建立一支保持国家竞争力和繁荣所需的多样化的科学和工程劳动力是必要的。

The current lack of faculty diversity in engineering poses serious threats to the replacement of an aging faculty, the retention of underrepresented minority (URM) students, the development of a diverse workforce and the well being of the nation. This challenging issue has been addressed over the past few decades with limited success, due in part to the complex and interrelated factors that influence the career advancement of underrepresented minority faculty. Strategies are needed to increase the numbers and career success of underrepresented minority faculty, to ensure diversity in engineering and national competitiveness.The goals and activities are closely aligned with NSF's mission to broaden the participation and success of underrepresented populations in engineering. Faculty of color represent an alarmingly small, untapped and underserved population in the academic ranks within engineering. This state of affairs informs the goals of the proposed project, which is to enhance the presence, socialization, retention and advancement of junior and mid-career faculty from underrepresented populations in engineering. The project seeks to achieve these goals via the following objectives: 1) development and implementation of a holistic array of career development initiatives for underrepresented early and mid-career faculty; and 2) implementation of research on practices and policies impacting the progression and advancement of these faculty members. The project includes a professional/leadership development component, informed by existing knowledge on the factors that help underrepresented faculty members succeed. There is also a research component that is intended to add to the national knowledge base on issues of career progression. Key features of the project include: an annual professional/leadership development symposium, the formation of an on-line community (e.g., using the NSF-funded National Institute for Faculty Equity website, webinars, etc.), organized networking at professional society meetings, the active engagement of senior scholars and opportunities for multi-year participation. Additionally, the symposium will be used as a forum to implement a mixed-methods study of the factors influencing underrepresented faculty members' experiences in academia. In this vein, the project will explore the following research questions: RQ1. What individual and systemic factors are facilitating and/or hindering the progression and advancement of URM faculty members?RQ2. What are the salient intragroup differences in the experiences of URM faculty? (e.g., How do foreign-born Black faculty members experience the academy differently than their US-born peers? How do the experiences of Hispanic faculty members differ based on their country of origin?)RQ3. How do URM faculty members' past professional development experiences impact their present day responses to challenges and opportunities?The project will contribute to the success and advancement of minority faculty in engineering, thereby enhancing their participation and retention, and increasing their ranks. The increased presence of these minorities enhances faculty diversity and provides the role models and self images that contribute to the enhanced recruitment, retention, and ultimate success of all students -- especially those from groups underrepresented in the engineering workforce -- which is necessary to build a diverse science and engineering workforce required to maintain national competitiveness and prosperity.