Investigating the Barriers to Retention and Tenure for Black and Hispanic Engineering Faculty at R1 Institutions

该项目的目的是确定促进或阻碍黑人和西班牙裔工程学院(BHEF)在四年制研究1(IHE)终身教职轨道上取得终身教职的因素，以及这些因素如何有助于留住和/或流失教师。这个项目试图揭示在保留BHEF方面做得很好的部门如何与那些做得不好的部门进行不同的操作。其目的是：(A)实证地探索教师社会化与BHEF终身教职和留任之间的联系，(B)更好地了解影响这种关系的“推动/拉动”(即促进/阻碍)因素，以及(C)保留BHEF的IHES/工程系与保留BHEF的院系相比，这些因素看起来如何。这项研究将为如何在工程关键领域保留代表性不足的BHEF提供更多的洞察力。当有才华的BHEF获得终身教职时，各机构就能更好地培养多元化、具有全球竞争力的下一代工程师。这反过来又有助于提高美国的经济竞争力。学者们坚持认为，社会化(即传递的规范和价值观)在很大程度上是造成非包容性的院系环境的主要原因，这种环境刺激了代表不足的少数族裔教师更高的流失率。然而，这一理论并未得到有力的检验。将采用顺序混合方法设计来解决三个研究问题。第一阶段探讨：“哪些因素促进和/或阻碍BHEF在四年制R1院校的终身教职方面取得进展？”并包括了一项针对全国R1高等教育机构所有工程学教授的全国性调查，以确定多样性环境与教师离职意向之间的关系。多样性气候将由多样性气候感知量表(Mor Barak等人，1998年)和多样性承诺量表(Chbot-Mason，2003年)来衡量，而周转意向将由TI-6仪器(Shore&Amp；Martin，)来衡量。初步结果将按子学科(如土木工程、电气)进行分类，以确定工程学各子领域的任何潜在差异。第二阶段涉及两个研究问题：“促进和/或阻碍终身教职进程的因素是如何影响教师留任或离职的？”以及“保留BHEF的IHES/工程系如何区别于那些不保留BHEF的教员？”第一阶段调查的结果将被用来确定晚期终身教职前教授(自称为黑人或西班牙裔)的样本，以便在两年内招募参与者进行后续面试。调查人员将审查留在或离开教授职位决定的理由和因素；如果他们离开，他们去了哪里，他们计划做什么。除了确定BHEF的支持和终身教职障碍外，这项研究预计还将揭示如何减轻障碍的排斥效应，以更好地维持工程学教师的多样化，并为创建包容性的IHE/部门提供见解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The purpose of this project is to identify factors that facilitate or impede progress toward tenure for Black and Hispanic engineering faculty (BHEF) on the tenure track at four-year Research1 (R1) Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) and how those factors contribute to faculty retention and/or turnover. This project seeks to uncover how departments that do well in retaining BHEF might operate differently from those that do not. The objectives are to (a) empirically explore the link between faculty socialization and BHEF tenure and retention, (b) better understand the “push/pull” (i.e., promote/impede) factors that affect that relationship, and (c) how those factors look in IHEs/engineering departments that retain their BHEF when compared to those that do not. This research will provide greater insight into how to retain underrepresented BHEF in the critical field of engineering. When talented BHEF are tenured, institutions are better positioned to develop a diverse, globally competitive, next generation of engineers. This in turn, contributes to increased economic competitiveness in the United States. Scholars maintain that socialization (i.e., the norms and values transmitted) is largely responsible for the non-inclusive departmental environments that spur higher rates of attrition for underrepresented minority faculty. However, this theory has not been robustly examined. A sequential mixed methods design will be employed to address three research questions. Phase One explores, “What are the factors that facilitate and/or impede progress towards tenure among pre-tenured BHEF at four-year R1 institutions?” and includes a national survey to all professors of engineering at R1 higher education institutions nationally to determine the relationship between diversity climate and faculty turnover intentions. Diversity climate will be measured by the Diversity Climate Perceptions scale (Mor Barak et al., 1998) and the Diversity Promise scale (Chrobot-Mason, 2003), while turnover intentions will be measured by the TI-6 instrument (Shore & Martin, 1989). The initial results will be disaggregated by sub-disciplines, (e.g., civil, electrical) to determine any potential differences in engineering subfields. Phase Two addresses two research questions: “How do the factors that facilitate and/or impede progress towards tenure operate in contributing to faculty retention or turnover?” and “How do IHEs/engineering departments that retain BHEF socialize their faculty differently from those that do not?” The results of the phase one survey will be used to identify the sample of late pre-tenure professors (self-identified as Black or Hispanic) from which to recruit participants for follow-up interviews over a two-year period. The investigators will examine the rationale and factors influencing decisions to remain in or depart from the professoriate; and if they depart, where they have gone and what they plan to do. In addition to identifying supports and barriers to tenure for BHEF, this research is expected to reveal ways to mitigate the exclusionary effect of barriers to better sustain the diversification of engineering faculty, as well as provide insights to create inclusive IHE/departments.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.