Inclusion, Diversity, Belonging and Equity (IDBE) in Academia
Unconscious Bias and Higher Education
Equality Challenge Unit
This report examines the impact of unconscious bias within higher education institutions, providing recommendations based on a literature review of psychological experiments.
Constructing Belonging in a Diverse Campus Community
Robin Cooper
This essay demonstrates how a sense of belonging is linked with academic success, and accordingly explores how high education professionals can support students’ sense of belonging through multifaceted opportunities for engagement on campus.
What Difference Does Difference Make? Position and Privilege in the Field
Jill A. McCorkel & Kristen Myers
Jill A. McCorkel and Kirsten Myers examine their own research – two distinct cross-racial, ethnographic projects – in order to understand how and to what extent the researcher's positionality shapes the structure and substance of the research study. They find the influence of racial privilege and other components of researcher identity to be subtle and complex.
The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House
Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde, pioneering civil rights activist, calls out academia for its exclusion of women of color in this essay, originally an intervention she made at the New York University Institute for the Humanities Second Sex Conference. Lorde argues that liberation can only be achieved when all voices are included and differences celebrated. When voices are merely tolerated, Lorde contends, then it simply replicates the same systems of power and oppression.
A Framework for Understanding Whiteness in Mathematics Education
Dan Battey and Luis A. Leyva
Documenting mathematics as a racialized space becomes difficult due to the invisibility and neutrality of Whiteness in institutions. The authors develop a framework that illustrates three dimensions of White institutional space - institutional, labor, and identity - to support mathematics educators in combating racist structures.
A Test That Fails
Casey Miller and Kievan Staussun
As an admissions requirement, the GRE is poor at selecting the most capable students and severely restricts the flow of women and minorities into the sciences. Studies find only a weak correlation between the test and ultimate success in STEM fields. De-emphasizing the GRE and augmenting admissions procedures with measures of other attributes — such as drive, diligence and the willingness to take scientific risks — would not make graduate admissions more predictive of the ability to do well and increase diversity in STEM.
A CRT-Informed Model to Enhance Experiences and Outcomes of Racially Minoritized Students
James M. Ellis, Terrel R. Morton, Cynthia Demetriou and Candice Powell
Applies Critical Race Theory (CRT) to explain racial inequalities in retention and graduation rates. Proposes a practical model for leveraging CRT concepts to address racial inequalities in student outcomes and experiences.
Black Female Adolescents and Racism in Schools: Experiences in a Colorblind Society
Nicole M. Joseph, Kara Mitchell Viesca, Margarita Bianco
Most black female adolescents in student surveys define racism as centered on prejeduce, discrimination, and different treatment; most experiences girls described regarding racism in school illustrated issues of prejudice, discrimination, and differential treatment as well as stereotypes, labels and low teacher expectations.
Black Women’s and Girls’ Persistence in the P–20 Mathematics Pipeline: Two Decades of Children, Youth, and Adult Education Research
Nicole M. Joseph, Mesret Hailu, Denise Boston
Through an extensive literature review (n=62), the authors identify three interrelated themes that contribute to Black women’s and girl’s persistence in the P-20 mathematics pipeline: structural disruptions, community influences, and resilience strategies. They also discuss a future research agenda based around new questions, paradigms, and ways of examining the experiences of Black women and girls in mathematics that could inform policy for increasing the persistence of Black women and girls in mathematics.
#BlackGirlMagic: The identity conceptualization of Black women in undergraduate STEM education
Ellen C. Parsons, Terrell R. Morton
While prior scholarship addresses Black women’s race and gender identity as risk factors that are the onset of hardship and oppression they experienced in STEM education, this study uncovers an alternative. Using PVEST (Phenomenological Variant Ecological Systems Theory), the authors demonstrate a group of Black women named and conceptualized their identity as “Black woman” to be a positive and protective factor for their STEM engagement.
Career Choice among First-Generation, Minority STEM College Students
Bryan M. Dewsbury, Cynthia Taylor, Amy Reid and Connie Viamonte
Using Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) as a guiding framework, the authors explored how culturally-specific realities impacted first generation students’ career choices. The findings suggest that familial ties and cultural expectations played key roles in determining how students navigated career choice.
Changing Social Norms to Foster the Benefits of Collaboration in Diverse Workgroups
Kevin R. Binning, Nancy Kaufmann, Erica McGreevy, Omid Fotuhi, Susie Chen, Emily Marshman, Z.Yasemin Kalender, Lisa Limeri, Laura Betancur and Chandraleka Singh
Constructive Criticism: The Role of Student-Faculty Interactions on African American and Hispanic Students' Educational Gains
Darnell Cole
Constructive criticism within an educational environment of ‘wise-schooling’ could offer useful opportunities for faculty to enhance minority students’ academic success and educational satisfaction.
Considering the Role of Affect in Learning: Monitoring Students’ Self-Efficacy, Sense of Belonging, and Science Identity
Kimberly Tanner and Gloriana Trujillo
Conceptual learning engages all aspects of an individual: cognitive, metacognitive, and affective. Within the affective domain, Trujillo and Tanner explore self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and science identity, as well as emerging assessment tools to monitor these dimensions of students’ learning.
Deep teaching in a college STEM classroom
Bryan Dewsbury
The author proposes a sequential approach, “deep teaching,” to help instructors create more positive classroom environments to address the ‘exclusive’ classroom atmosphere that is a barrier to underrepresented minority students in STEM majors. The deep teaching approach is based on self-awareness, empathy, classroom climate, and network leverage.
Decolonising Science Reading List
Chandra Prescod-Weinstein
Prescod-Weintein believes science need not be inextricably tied to commodification and colonialism. The discourse around “diversity, equity and inclusion” in science, technology, engineering and mathematics must be viewed as a reclamation project for people of color.
Engaging Families to Foster Holistic Success of Low-income, Latinx First-Generation Students at a Hispanic-Serving Institution
Rebecca Covarrubias, Andrea Vazquez, Rene Moreno, Judith Estrata, Ibette VAlle and Kimberly Zunigas
Through surveys completed by conference participants, Covarrubias et al. explore servingness by evaluating an HSI initiative - the Regional Family Conference (RFC) - which is designed to engage families in the college transition and college-going process for low-income, Latinx first-generation students.
Expectations of brilliance underlie gender distributions across academic disciplines
Edward Freeland, Meredith Meyer, Andrei Cimpian, Sarah-Jane Leslie
Surveys revealed that some fields are believed to require attributes such as brilliance and genius, whereas other fields are believed to require more empathy or hard work. In fields where people thought that raw talent was required, academic departments had lower percentages of women.
Fostering a Sense of Belonging in the College Classroom: Peer Interactions that Improve Student Success
Kevin R. Binning, Nancy Kaufmann, Erica M. McGreevy, Omid Fotuhi, Susie Chen, Emily Marshman, Z. Yasemin Kalender, Lisa Limeri, Laura Betancur and Chanderalekha Singh
Performance gaps between genders and other minoritized groups may be closed with a 30-minute exercise that allows students to address their fears of “not belonging” and identify how they have or will overcome challenges in college. Performance gaps between genders and other minoritized groups may be closed with a 30-minute exercise that allows students to address their fears of “not belonging” and identify how they have or will overcome challenges in college.
Greater Inclusion, Equity in STEM Education for Multilingual Students is Fous of New Research
UT Austin News
Multilingual students are the fastest-growing student group in U.S. schools. Yet, as the country continues to promote STEM literacy for all, multilingual students still face systemic barriers in accessing high-quality instruction to confidently enter the workforce. New research is emerging at the University of Texas at Austin to study what may ensure a successful start in STEM for multilingual students.
How diverse are physics instructors’ attitudes and approaches to teaching undergraduate levelquantum mechanics?
Chandralekha Singh and Shabnam Siddiqui
Unlike other subjects such as electricity and magnetism, there is no widespread agreement on the essential topics to teach in the college undergraduate QM course for physics majors, the order in which those topics should be taught and the amount of time that should be spent on various topics.
How To Respond to Racial Microaggressions When They Occur
Frank Harris III, Luke. J. Wood
Educators have a moral duty to respond when a microaggression occurs; not interceding is allowing harm to occur.
Improving Underrepresented Minority Student Persistence in STEM
Mica Estrada, Myra Burnett, Andrew G. Campbell, Patricia B. Campbell, Wilfred F. Denetclow, Carlos G. Gutiérrez, Sylvia Hurtado, Gilbert H. John, John Matsui, Richard McGee, Camellia Moses Okpodu, T. Joan Robinson, Michael F. Summers, Maggie Werner-Washburne and MariaElena Zavala
Members of the Joint Working Group on Improving Underrepresented Minorities (URMs) Persistence in STEM suggest stronger focus on institutional barriers. They offer five recommendations that capitalize on known successes, recognize the need for accountability, and are framed to facilitate greater progress in the future. The impact of these recommendations rests upon enacting the first recommendation: to track successes and failures at the institutional level and collect data that help explain the existing trends.
Inclusive Teaching
Bryan Dewsbury and Cynthia J. Brame
Inclusive teaching is most effective when the academic experience is based on relationships and dialogue. The other components that stem from that dialogue point to the environment and activities created to sustain the dialogue, as well as the external resources leveraged to support it. Pedagogical practices that improve sense of belonging and self-efficacy help reinforce a classroom climate that is inclusive.
Normalizing Black Girls’ Humanity in Mathematics Classrooms
Nicole M. Joseph, Meseret Hailu, Jamaal Sharif Matthews
By conducting interviews with ten Black adolescent girls with varying engagement with mathematics, the authors argue that inclusive pedagogical approaches when teaching Black girls mathematics can humanize Black girls and their experiences in the mathematics classroom.
Nothing to Add: A Challenge to White Silence in Racial Discussion
Robin D'Angelo
D’Angelo argues that “White silence” functions to maintain White power and privledge. She uses Whiteness theory as a framework to explicate the common rationales that White people use to justify their silence in discussions of race and racism. Afterwards, she challenges each rational using an antiracist educational framework.
Race Matters
David Asai
Despite their initial high interest in science, students who belong to excluded racial and ethnic groups leave science at unacceptably high rates. ‘‘Fixing the student’’ approaches are not sufficient at stemming the loss. Asai offers three key suggestions for making science culture more inclusive.
Reimagining How We Define Equity Gaps: Decentering Whiteness and Privilege
Tia McNair Brown
Enacting equity in higher education will require the decentering of whiteness as the marker for success and aspiration for racially minoritized or marginalized groups.
Small group gender ratios impact biology class performance and peer evaluations
Lauren L. Sullivan, Cissy J. Ballen, Sehoya Cotner
Evidence suggests the microclimate of the classroom is an important factor influencing female course grades and interest, which encourages retention of women in STEM fields. The study varies the gender ratios in small groups in two biology courses (from 0% female to 100%) and finds that as the percentage of women increases so does the overall course performance for all students regardless of gender.
To learn inclusion skills, make it personal
David Asai
Asai details his personal experiences with learning inclusion skills, arguing that diversity without inclusion is an empty gesture. Inclusion is a feeling of belonging, and creating an empowering, embracing, egalitarian environment starts with the heart.
Underrepresented Minority' Considered Harmful, Racist Language
Tiffani Williams
Williams shares her frustration with the widely used term underrepresented minority (URM) and gives rationales and suggestions for moving away from such ‘racist language.'
