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Transforming academic organizations to be more equitable and inclusive requires a range of change agents working together and engaging in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Central to this DEI work is learning how to create change. Yet, change agents do not always know at the outset what resources are necessary to enact change; they often acquire the necessary resources and skills over time. This research paper investigates how change agents participating in a community of practice (CoP) across academic institutions learn about and mobilize resources to transform engineering education. This analysis of resource mobilization mechanisms comes from research with the National Science Foundation (NSF) Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) grant recipient teams. To date, 26 teams have been funded through the RED mechanism to create revolutionary organizational and cultural changes within their departments with the goal of improving equity, inclusion, and educational outcomes. Projects vary in how they define and the degree to which they focus on equity. We find that resource mobilization practices in the CoP center and strengthen DEI values in two main ways. Firstly, participants learn about and gain access to resources that are explicitly DEIrelated: they mobilize resources to advance equity at the institutional level as an outcome of the projects and collaborate on additional projects to embed DEI into the process of change-making itself, starting from the initial stages of writing a proposal. Secondly, the way participants engage with each other, and approach change goals puts equity and inclusion into practice: participants identify and tackle structural barriers to change through DEI-aligned behaviors, from addressing how institutional circumstances create resistance to DEI, to developing a shared vision for systemic change that is inclusive and collaborative.
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Applying The Transformation Trifecta Model to an Organizational Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Assessment
We describe how to facilitate an organizational Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) cultural transformation utilizing The Transformation Trifecta (TTT) leadership model which includes three steps: learn, integrate, act. The differentiator of this model is the integration step which is often left out of DEI education yet necessary since the majority of behaviors that propagate oppression are unconscious and manifest through implicit bias or microaggressions that are subtle yet impactful. It is necessary to engage an approach that goes beyond the thinking mind in order to shift underlying beliefs through rewiring neural pathways that inform the creation of new behaviors in response to embodying new information. This exploration applies the Transformation Trifecta model to the first phase of an organizational DEI cultural shift meant to increase inclusivity and belonging. Additionally, the exploration will include the research-backed education tool of backward design included in the Institute for Science and Engineer Educators (ISEE)’s Professional Development Program (PDP), which was an instrumental aspect in multiple authors’ training and development. The Transformation Trifecta utilizes backward design in the assessment creation process in order to clearly articulate the desired outcomes and goals for behavior change. There will be a discussion of the top areas of assessment and benchmarks including: belonging, psychological safety, inclusion, growth mindset, equity, and equitable leadership development.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1743117
- PAR ID:
- 10387898
- Editor(s):
- Seagroves, Scott; Barnes, Austin; Metevier, Anne; Porter, Jason; Hunter, Lisa
- Publisher / Repository:
- Institute for Scientist & Engineer Educators (ISEE)
- Date Published:
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 42-72
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Proceeding:
- https://doi.org/10.58021/S57G6T
