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Although broadening participation efforts aim to transform who has access to engineering by targeting those historically excluded, Black and Brown students’ participation remains stifled by the exclusionary culture and practices ingrained in engineering. Consequently, there is a need for scholarship that advances our understanding of systemic changes that center equity, challenge exclusionary cultural norms, and ultimately contribute to a disruption in the status quo of who gets to be an engineer. Using a multi-case research design that is framed by Kotter’s Leading Change theory and Acker’s Inequality Regimes as theoretical foundations, this CAREER award aims to uncover the change strategies institutionalized by five exemplary COEs to improve Black and Brown students’ access to engineering education and careers. This executive summary presents insights about the second year of the study and is organized around three topics—project overview, year 2 research activity summary, and looking ahead to year 3. 

The historical exclusion of Black and Brown students from engineering can be linked to systemic racism embedded into engineering education. Rectifying this issue will require Colleges of Engineering to adopt a holistic change strategy to overcome this challenge. While existing scholarship has explored the barriers racially/ethnically minoritized students face in engineering and the change strategies that promote pedagogical innovations in engineering education, this CAREER project sits at the intersection of both topics. This CAREER Award is a multi-case study exploring five institutions that serve as exemplars for recruiting, retaining, and graduating the most Black and Brown undergraduate engineers over a recent decade. This executive summary presents insights about the first year of this study and is organized around four key topics: the project design, two key outputs of year one, preliminary insights from year one’s pilot interviews, and looking ahead to year two.