Diverse: Issues in Higher Education – PHENND

New Article: Academic Pipeline Programs for Underrepresented Students That Work

hillarya — Sat, 25 Sep 2021 15:57:14 +0000

Despite decades of trying to bolster faculty diversity, the number of women, minorities, and people with disabilities who become professors, especially in science and engineering, remains starkly low. But some academic pipeline programs stand out at bringing more underrepresented students into the academy than their peers. So, what’s working? And what’s not?

That was the central question during a virtual panel, spurred by Academic Pipeline Programs: Diversifying Pipelines from the Bachelor’s to the Professoriate, a new book from Drs. Curtis Byrd and Rihana Mason at Georgia State University (GSU). The researchers outlined the best practices of 21 successful programs, detailing how their learnings can be used, replicated, and promoted to tackle the persistent diverse talent gap.

“We went out and found the top-tier initiatives to show in a concise and regimented way what these programs can do from pre-K to 12 all the way to college and graduate or professional schools,” said Byrd, special advisor to the Provost at GSU.

National Urban League Calls for Post-COVID Racial Equity in Latest Report

hillarya — Sat, 24 Jul 2021 17:00:09 +0000

While many talk of wanting a return to normal after COVID-19, the National Urban League (NUL), one of the nation’s oldest civil rights organizations, is advocating for a “new normal,” one that is more inclusive and equitable than before coronavirus.

Its recently released annual report, The State of Black America, lays out “three pandemics” that devastated communities of color in 2020-21: racial inequity in the economy, health care, and public safety. Yet the report also outlines ways forward, including for higher education.

“The report is a call to action,” said NUL president Marc H. Morial in an interview with Diverse. “To take the momentum, the energy, the determination of 2020, which we saw in the streets, we saw in the suites, we saw in the ballot boxes, and convert that energy into an effort to attack structural and institutional racism for a new, inclusive normal.”

With research partners at the Brookings Institution, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity, and the Center for Policing, NUL’s publicly available report analyzes how COVID-19, police violence, and an economic crisis amplified underlying structural racism.

New Approaches to STEM Engage Traditionally Underrepresented Students

hillarya — Sat, 17 Jul 2021 15:25:27 +0000

As STEM educators endeavor to engage students from traditionally underrepresented populations, they are emphasizing innovative approaches that explore intersections with the arts, humanities, business and sports.

When Dr. Felesia Stukes joined the faculty at Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) in 2017, she was the first Black computer science faculty member in the HBCU’s 150-year history. Today, she is working hard to lay a foundation for her students to become future colleagues.

Part of that process requires understanding the reasons why students of color all too often choose not to pursue STEM fields despite interest and ability.