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Advocates and Allies (A&A) programs, designed to educate individuals from demographic majority groups to become more centrally involved in equality endeavors, have been introduced to more than twenty U.S higher education institutions with the support of NSF ADVANCE grant funding. Most evaluations of the impact of these programs have been through indirect measures, such as self-reports of satisfaction with the training. We analyzed data across five years and several iterations of A&A workshops at a research-active, public Midwestern, predominantly White, STEM-dominant university to determine changes in participants’ perceptions of equity at the institution. Results suggest that participants left the workshops with more perceptions of local inequity at the institution than they reported before the workshop. Effects were found for both perceptions of racial equity and perceptions of gender equity but were stronger and more consistent for the latter. The effects of the workshops varied across time. Implications of the results for scholarship and practice for the improvement of advocacy programs are discussed. 

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. 

Abstract Department chairs are crucial in impacting departmental climate, conveying expectations, and providing merit assessments. Therefore, they have the most influence in retaining highly qualified faculty. Most department chairs come from the faculty ranks and lack formal training in key management, communication, and administrative skills, including performance reviews, resource allocation and budgeting, legal and compliance issues, promotion and tenure determinations, conflict resolution, and the inclusive management of people with diverse identities. Recognizing the critical role of department chairs and the evident gap in their training, we developed a series of chair workshops to provide ongoing professional development for department chairs across multiple semesters. These workshops were designed as part of a multi-university collaboration funded by the National Science Foundation to create more inclusive environments in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) units. However, the offerings were expanded to include all units on all campuses. This paper outlines our approach to developing these professional development workshops and describes the workshop designs and how we incorporated participant feedback. Additionally, we offer suggestions for others designing and implementing chair professional development workshops together with areas for future advancements in chair professional development.