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Presentation
Impacts of Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives in a Civil and Environmental Engineering Department
2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access (2020)
  • Tiago R. Forin, Rowan University
  • Stephanie Farrell, Rowan University
  • Kauser Jahan, Rowan University
  • Stephanie Lezotte, Rowan University
  • Beena Sukumaran, Rowan University
  • Harriet Hartman, Rowan University
  • Ralph Alan Dusseau, Rowan University
  • Theresa F.S. Bruckerhoff
  • Sarah K. Bauer, Rowan University
Abstract
In 2016, the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department at Midsized Northeastern University was awarded The National Science Foundation’s Revolutionizing Engineering and computer science Departments (RED) grant. The motivation for the RED grant was to allow institutions to improve the inclusion of minorities over the course of five years. The CEE Department used this opportunity to create a research group called Revolutionizing Engineering Diversity (RevED) in order to focus on helping underrepresented and underserved populations of students. The researchers sought out inclusive practices that cover visible and non-visible differences within students. The research group’s focus on diversity and inclusion also serves as a means to improve the recruitment and retention of students along with their development as engineering professionals. Currently, RevED is in the fourth year of the grant. While the CEE Department has looked to improve itself by looking critically at recruitment, faculty developed inclusive pedagogy, and student perception of campus climate, there is more effort in getting these initiatives to spread within the greater institution and even out to other institutions who are interested in improving their own inclusivity. The CEE Department has undergone evaluation of what impacts can be felt by students and student interviews have occurred that allow the researchers to gain first hand student insight for what the climate of diversity is like for them. As in previous years, this poster intends to show a variety of the developments made by the RevED research group and the CEE Department. The poster will feature information on the changing student demographics, student perception of the climate of diversity, the impact evaluations of the CEE Department’s efforts and an overview of larger institution wide efforts being made to positively impact the entire engineering college and university. As the RevED team enters its final years, the poster will also discuss plans on engaging the broader engineering academic community in order to establish best practices for implementing diversity and inclusion initiatives in other programs.
Publication Date
June 22, 2020
DOI
10.18260/1-2--34762
Comments
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/34762
Citation Information
Tiago R. Forin, Stephanie Farrell, Kauser Jahan, Stephanie Lezotte, et al.. "Impacts of Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives in a Civil and Environmental Engineering Department" 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access (2020)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/stephanie-farrell/42/