ADVANCE Partnership: Engineering Deans’ Gender Equity Initiative: Aligning Systems to Ensure Inclusion and Equity in Advancement of Faculty

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Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines are better able to solve complicated global problems when diverse expertise is welcomed, supported, and retained. STEM cultures, however, result from systems that were, and are, predominately male, white, heterosexual, and able-bodied, which results in explicit and implicit practices that keep STEM spaces largely homogenous despite changes in the workforce and national norms. The loss of diverse talent results in the narrowing of disciplinary excellence and capacity for problem solving, innovation, and resilience in times of stress. Heightened demands for innovation, coupled with demographic shifts, and, most recently, the impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic and the racial violence, resulted in gendered and racialized workforce outcomes. These impacts create an urgent need to ensure that academic engineering environments are inclusive and equitable for diverse women faculty so that all talent is available to address current and future complex global problems requiring engineering expertise. This need will not be met unless engineering systems, (e.g., academic colleges, engineering accrediting bodies, professional societies) identify and address structures, policies, and practices that keep sexism and racism in place. Currently, academic engineering systems are loosely aligned and sometimes disconnected. Aligning these engineering systems and integrating evidence-based policies and practices that support inclusive organizational change will enable the availability of more abundant and diverse engineering talent as well as STEM system reform. This initiative will extend the work of the American Society of Engineering Education’s (ASEE’s) ADVANCE Adaptation Engineering Deans Gender Equity (EDGE) Initiative, which provided resources, and exemplars, for successful adaptation of social science-based evidence to academic engineering practice. The goals of the KnowlEDGE Initiative are 1) to align systems of academic engineering colleges and departments focused on promotion and tenure to increase the success of diverse women engineering faculty; 2) to align and make transparent the systems of accreditation governance within professional societies and ABET, and to increase the number of diverse women ABET Program Evaluators and Commissioners to diversify the accreditation decision-making bodies and increase leadership accountability; and 3) ultimately, to support diverse talent and equitable success of diverse women future engineers. The KnowlEDGE change model will be piloted and deployed on eight campuses within a diverse community of practice. Outcomes will be disseminated through partner networks, ASEE’s Engineering Deans Council, social media, and scientific publications. This work is aligned with the NSF ADVANCE program, which is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE "Partnership" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education, and non-academic non-profit organizations.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.