An official website of the United States government
Predominantly STEM campuses tend to have a much lower representation of individuals with non-majority identities and lower inclusion of these individuals within organizational processes. To address these issues, an Advocates and Allies (A&A) program developed by another university that engages majority (on the basis of race and gender identities) individuals in institutional change [1] was vetted for an NSF ADVANCE Adaptation Grant. We, as members of the ADVANCE PI team, share our challenges and strategies as we established the program on our campus. We intend our discussion to be useful for other STEM-intensive institutions as they engage majority individuals in institutional change. The A&A program centers around workshops that discuss how discrimination manifests in universities and include the institution’s own data. We highlight adaptations we made specific to our institution in order to encourage other institutions to be responsive to the contexts that impact DEIS work on their campuses. For instance, our initial adaptation of the Advocates and Allies program sought to be more inclusive by including LGBTQIA+ and staff on the Advocates team and A&A Advisory Board (A3B). Our adaptations have also reflected an ongoing commitment to present race and ethnicity data in addition to gender data. Other adaptations we discuss concern developing the credibility of the team presenting the workshops and incorporating an ongoing Journal Club to discuss the relevant literature. This paper also shares reflections on the best strategies to direct the Advocate’s growth in DEIS knowledge and confidence, as well as the development of collaborative relationships between the two groups and A3B’s comfort level guiding and directing the Advocates. We reflect upon sustaining the A&A teams through the COVID pandemic, including cultivating online engagement and rebuilding post-COVID team dynamics. This work describes one team’s journey in navigating an adaptation of a well-known Advocates and Allies program onto a STEM-intensive campus. We include some assessment results from the workshops and close with recommendations for establishing and maintaining an A&A program.
more »
« less
Overcoming Immunities to Change: The ADVANCE Immunities to Change (ITC) program at Virginia Commonwealth University
"Yesterday, I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today, I am wise, so I am changing myself.” (Persian Poet Rumi) Consistent with Rumi’s quote, the National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE grant program is based upon the premise that change toward increased representation and advancement of women in STEM careers begins within: within our own institutions of higher education, and the structures, policies, programs, cultures and individuals that define and inhabit them. And yet, change in academe is slow and difficult, as those engaged in ADVANCE work have experienced over and over again since the program was established in 2001. This difficulty may be explained by the concept of immunity to change (ITC), which was introduced by social psychologists Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey (2009). They found that merely recognizing barriers to change is often not enough, even in cases where individuals and groups are truly committed to change. The barriers may be hard to discover and even harder to overcome. They may exist for valid reasons and be indicative of “immunities to change.” These immunities stem from competing commitments and hidden assumptions that serve to protect us against any perceived possibilities of loss or threat involved in change but also then undermine our change goals. Individuals, as well as teams or entire organizations, can find themselves “stuck,” trying their best to change and yet continuing to engage in behaviors that undermine the change goal.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1824015
- PAR ID:
- 10537995
- Publisher / Repository:
- The ADVANCE Journal
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ADVANCE Journal
- Volume:
- 4
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 2643-7031
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
This article examines intersectional praxis as an approach to institutional transformation, arguing that intersectionality is both a catalyst for and outcome of gender equity efforts in the social sciences and other academic STEM fields. As such, approaching gender equity intersectionally can be understood as a way that theory and practice are co-constitutive in social science and hence an important aspect of transforming academic institutions. Through a case study of the US National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE program for gender equity in STEM, I look at the development of ADVANCE from an effort to support women in scientific fields to becoming a program for institutional transformation grounded in an intersectional understanding of women's inequity in the academic labor force. I ask two related questions in the efforts to address gender inequities in STEM. First, what is the relationship between academic institutions (which are simultaneously sites for the discovery of knowledge and gender inequality) and the National Science foundation, as the premier American academic institutional funding agency? Second, how has this relationship, through those working on ADVANCE, fundamentally shifted the understanding of the social scientific tools and strategies necessary to advance equity for women in academia? In looking at these questions, I argue that, beyond women's representation in social sciences and academia broadly, intersectionality is an important scholarly advance in social science that offers a dialectical tool for change.more » « less
-
The pressing nature of climate change and its associated impacts requires a climate literate citizenry. Climate change education in K-12 settings may provide a unique opportunity to make inroads towards climate literacy. However, many K-12 teachers avoid teaching climate change because they are uncomfortable with the subject or do not see its relevance to their curriculum. Removing barriers to climate change professional development (CCPD) for teachers may help increase confidence in teaching about climate change. To understand the perceived barriers to participating in CCPD, a survey was conducted with 54 middle school science teachers who did not respond to a previous invitation to participate in a CCPD program. The most significant barrier was time to participate. The participants were also asked to rate their confidence about whether climate change is happening. The results were compared between teachers who were confident climate change was happening and those who were not to examine whether these beliefs influenced teachers’ perceptions of barriers. Those who were confident climate change was happening were less likely to perceive administrative support, interest in the workshop, and knowledge of climate change content as barriers. However, both groups of teachers reported that time was the primary barrier rather than the topic. This suggests that, rather than developing unique strategies, existing best practices in teacher professional development can be used to support CCPD opportunities. Additional recommendations include thinking creatively about how to create time for teachers to attend and making the professional development directly relevant to teacher’s local contexts.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)Implicit bias is one of the most successful cases in recent memory of an academic concept being translated into practice. Its use in the National Science Foundation ADVANCE program—which seeks to promote gender equality in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) careers through institutional transformation—has raised fundamental questions about organizational change. How do advocates translate theories into practice? What makes some concepts more tractable than others? What happens to theories through this translation process? We explore these questions using the ADVANCE program as a case study. Using an inductive, theory-building approach and combination of computational and qualitative methods, we investigate how the concept of implicit bias was translated into practice through the ADVANCE program and identify five key features that made implicit bias useful as a change framework in the academic STEM setting. We find that the concept of implicit bias works programmatically because it is (1) demonstrable, (2) relatable, (3) versatile, (4) actionable, and (5) impartial. While enabling the concept’s diffusion, these characteristics also limit its scope. We reflect on implications for gender theories of organizational change and for practitioners.more » « less
-
It is no secret that the retention of students majoring in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) has presented itself to be a challenge across the country. The National Science Foundation (NSF) allots substantial funding annually towards this effort. Jackson State University’s (JSU) Students Understanding Chemistry Concepts to Enhance STEM Skills (SUCCESS) Program is one such effort funded by the NSF. While the JSU Department of Biology had over 900 majors in 2016, data suggested that less than 23% would graduate with a bachelor’s degree within six years of entry. According to data obtained, the first four chemistry courses, General Chemistry (I & II) and Organic Chemistry (I & II), were significant barriers to the educational success of many Biology majors. A review of the literature provides many examples of initiatives to improve student retention. A reoccurring theme found that the comprehensive understanding of the students’ experiences within a particular major is essential to determining how best to impact student retention in that department. Student focus groups were implemented to evaluate the perceptions of Biology majors enrolled in Chemistry classes who utilized the SUCCESS Program. The overall impression of students in the SUCCESS Program was that it was helpful and beneficial to their classroom success, increased their confidence to learn Chemistry, and improved their understanding of Chemistry concepts. The students often identified scheduling conflicts as a hindrance to their participation. They also felt that the program was needed to help most students pass their tests.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.5399/osu/ADVJRNL.4.2.5
