Academic Career Enhancement for Underrepresented Faculty in Engineering

目前工程学教师缺乏多样性，这对替换老化的教师、留住代表不足的少数族裔学生、发展多样化的劳动力队伍和国家的福祉构成了严重威胁。过去几十年来，这一具有挑战性的问题得到了解决，但成效有限，部分原因是影响任职人数不足的少数族裔教师职业发展的复杂和相互关联的因素。需要制定战略，以增加代表不足的少数族裔教员的数量和职业成功，以确保工程学的多样性和国家竞争力。目标和活动与NSF扩大代表不足人群在工程学领域的参与和成功的使命密切相关。在工程学的学术队伍中，颜色学院代表着一个小得令人震惊的、未被开发和服务不足的群体。这一情况说明了拟议项目的目标，即加强工程学中任职人数不足的初级和中期教员的存在、社会化、留住和晋升。该项目力求通过以下目标实现这些目标：1)为职业生涯早期和中期任职人数不足的教职员工制定和实施一系列全面的职业发展倡议；以及2)对影响这些教职员工进步和晋升的做法和政策进行研究。该项目包括一个专业/领导力发展部分，利用现有的关于帮助代表性不足的教职员工取得成功的因素的知识。还有一个研究部分，旨在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：一年一度的专业/领导力发展专题讨论会，组成一个在线社区(例如，利用国家科学基金会资助的国家教师平等研究所网站、网络研讨会等)，在专业学会会议上组织联网，资深学者的积极参与和多年参与的机会。此外，研讨会将作为一个论坛，对影响未被充分代表的教职员工在学术界的经验的因素进行混合方法研究。在这种背景下，该项目将探索以下研究问题：RQ1。哪些个人和系统因素正在促进和/或阻碍城市管理教师的进步和进步？URM教职员工的经历在组内有哪些显著差异？(例如，外国出生的黑人教职员工与他们在美国出生的同龄人对学院的感受有何不同？西班牙裔教职员工的经历根据他们的原籍国有何不同？)URM教员过去的专业发展经验如何影响他们今天对挑战和机遇的反应？该项目将有助于少数教员在工程领域的成功和进步，从而提高他们的参与度和保留率，并增加他们的队伍。这些少数群体的增加增强了教师的多样性，并提供了榜样和自我形象，有助于增强所有学生的招聘、留住和最终成功--特别是那些来自工程劳动力中代表性较低的群体的学生--这对于建立一支多元化的科学和工程劳动力队伍是必要的，这是维持国家竞争力和繁荣所必需的。

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.