Collaborative Research: AGEP ACA to Engage Leaders to Improve Diversity among STEM Faculty

这个NSF AGEP催化剂联盟项目正在试点一项具有广泛国家意义的制度变革战略，其重点是动员STEM领导者的参与和承诺，以扩大博士生、博士后研究人员和教师的机会，这些人是历史上在STEM中代表性不足的种族和族裔群体的成员。由新墨西哥大学、亚利桑那州立大学和俄勒冈大学在促进多样性方面具有相当专业知识的领导者组成，这个NSF AGEP催化剂联盟团队正在扩大对这些博士生、博士后研究员和STEM领域教师所面临的共同和具体挑战的了解，并为促进公平和包容的制度转型做出贡献。这个NSF AGEP催化剂联盟正在识别挑战，吸引领导者，制定战略计划，并巩固三个合作机构之间有效的工作团队。合作伙伴是公立高等教育机构，拥有卡内基博士大学分类：非常高的研究活动，位于西部各州，并共同致力于促进具有历史上在科技企业中代表性不足的背景的人的成功。项目团队在项目期间专注于四项主要活动。首先，该小组通过调查和个别访谈在每个合作机构实施机构评估研究。其次，该团队正在创建由STEM管理人员和教师组成的领导参与委员会，以分析研究结果并审查国家最佳实践菜单。这些委员会正在让参与者产生一种认同和主人翁感。第三，合伙人正在制定一项五年股权战略计划，其中概述了领导人参与委员会提出的变革战略。最后，该团队正在通过每周的会议来完善三所合作大学项目负责人之间的合作关系，同时与杰出的STEM领导者组成的外部顾问委员会进行咨询。改善公平和包容对于提高STEM教师水平、教育美国未来的STEM劳动力、培养个人机会以及为美国经济繁荣做出贡献至关重要。因此，美国国家科学基金会AGEP项目的资助旨在促进和加强支持公平和包容的系统性因素，从而减轻学术专业和工作场所的系统性不平等。NSF AGEP催化剂联盟设计并实施一个或多个组织自我评估来收集和分析数据，这些数据将识别影响博士生、博士后研究员和教师的不平等现象，这些不平等现象是历史上在STEM中代表性不足的种族和族裔群体的成员。NSF AGEP催化剂联盟也试行股权战略，并制定五年股权战略计划。这些拨款资助类似的高等教育机构，为长期机构转型提供必要的基础工作。最终，在教师招聘、保留和晋升政策和实践中推进机构公平和包容性，将增加STEM中历史上代表性不足的种族和族裔教师的数量。这个NSF AGEP催化剂联盟正在使用交叉分析来研究历史上在STEM中代表性不足的种族和族裔群体成员的经历和面临的挑战的变化。这种分析包括检查群体内部和群体之间的相似性和差异性。该团队还采用了弗兰克·多宾和亚历山德拉·卡列夫的管理参与方法，以及雪莱·科雷尔的“小胜利”变革模型，以实现改善STEM中多元化教师代表性的目标。这些方法将共同有助于项目的成功实施和成果。项目工作的内部评估将由新墨西哥州统计分析中心主任Kristine Denman进行。NSF AGEP催化剂联盟工作的外部评估将由Cornelius管理集团的Lynn Nordstrom领导。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This NSF AGEP Catalyst Alliance project is piloting an institutional change strategy of broad national significance, which focuses on mobilizing STEM leader engagement and commitment to expand opportunities for doctoral students, post-doctoral research fellows, and faculty who are members of racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in STEM. Consisting of leaders with considerable expertise in diversity promotion at the University of New Mexico, Arizona State University and University of Oregon, this NSF AGEP Catalyst Alliance team is expanding knowledge about the shared and specific challenges facing these doctoral students, post-doctoral research fellows and faculty in STEM fields and contributing to best practices to promote equitable and inclusive institutional transformation. This NSF AGEP Catalyst Alliance is identifying challenges, engaging leaders, developing a strategic plan, and consolidating an effective working team between the three partner institutions. The partners are public institutions of higher education, have a Carnegie classification of Doctoral Universities: Very High Research Activity, are located in Western states, and share a commitment to advancing the success of people with backgrounds that are historically underrepresented in the science and technology enterprise. The project team focuses on four primary activities during the project period. First, the team is implementing institutional assessment studies at each partner institution through surveys and individual interviews. Second, the team is creating leader engagement committees of STEM administrators and faculty to analyze study results and review menus of national best practices. The committees are generating a sense of buy-in and ownership from participants. Third, the partners are developing a five-year equity strategic plan, which outlines change strategies suggested by the leader engagement committees. Finally, the team is refining a collaborative relationship between project leaders at the three partner universities through weekly meetings, while consulting with an external advisory board of distinguished STEM leaders.Improving equity and inclusion is critical to advancing STEM faculty, educating America’s future STEM workforce, fostering individual opportunity and contributing to a thriving U.S. economy. The NSF AGEP program, therefore, funds grants that advance and enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and, consequently, mitigate the systemic inequities in the academic profession and workplace. NSF AGEP Catalyst Alliances design and implement one or more organizational self-assessment(s) to collect and analyze data that will identify inequities affecting doctoral students, post-doctoral research fellows, and faculty who are members of racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in STEM. NSF AGEP Catalyst Alliances also pilot equity strategies and develop a five-year equity strategic plan. These grants fund similar institutions of higher education to generate the foundational work necessary for long-term institutional transformation. Ultimately, advancing institutional equity and inclusion in faculty hiring, retention and promotion policies and practices will increase the number of faculty who are members of racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in STEM. This NSF AGEP Catalyst Alliance is using an intersectional analysis to study the variation in the experiences of and challenges faced by members of racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in STEM. This analysis includes examining within and between group similarities and differences. The team is also adapting the Frank Dobbin’s and Alexandra Kalev’s managerial engagement approach, and Shelley Correll’s “Small Wins” change model, to address the goal of improving diverse faculty representation in STEM. Together these methods will contribute to successful project implementation and outcomes. Internal evaluation of the project work will be conducted by Kristine Denman, the Director of the New Mexico Statistical Analysis Center. External assessment of this NSF AGEP Catalyst Alliance work will be led by Lynn Nordstrom from the Cornelius Management Group.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.