AAAS Centers

Center for Advancing Science and Engineering Capacity

Triple-A S: Advancing Science, Serving Society

AAAS Centers: Center for Advancing Science and Engineering Capacity

http://www.aaas.org//inc/wrappers/centers/adv_sci_eng_capacity_top.inc

Engagement of Higher Education Institutions to Promote Their Diversity Initiatives

Approach

Through the Center for Advancing Science & Engineering Capacity and with the support of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation officer's grant awarded in February 2005, AAAS has offered STEM human resource development consulting (on a cost-sharing basis). We have addressed key umbrella organizations and visited institutions of higher education to engage faculty and administrators in ways of examining their programs, outcomes, and overall capacity to recruit, enroll, and support STEM students.

Read the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation/AAAS Project abstract, "Demonstrating the Legal Sustainability of Effective Stem Diversity and Practices here.

Activity

AAAS Capacity Center leadership and consultants have facilitated the following conversations under the "engagement" banner:

  • February 2008
    Panelist, Promoting Diversity in Higher Education and Workforce STEM, Diversity & Innovation Caucus, Stakeholders' Listening Meeting, Washington, DC (Chubin) [PPT]

  • February 2008
    Organizer and Co-Moderator, "Improving the Climate for Your Science/Engineering Workforce," Career Workshop, AAAS Annual Meeting, Boston, MA (Chubin) [PPT]

Sigma Xi Lectures

  • May 2009
    "Tipping Points in Academe, " Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecture, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, May 14, 2009 (Chubin)

  • April 2008
    Keynoter, "Supply, Demand, and Something Else: Education to Workforce," Sigma Xi Lecture,
    Northern Illinois University, April 17, 2008 (Chubin)
  • April 2008
    "Celebrating the Present...and the Promise," IMAGE/NSBE Faculty Appreciation Banquet,
    Mississippi State University, April 2, 2008 (Chubin)

  • September 2007
    • "Tipping Points in Academe, " Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecture, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, September 27, 2007 (Chubin)

Featured Resources

The following resources directly relate to topics under the “engagement” banner, more specifically, “Law, Policy and Practice.” Like the Research Catalogue, these issues are addressed by the AAAS Capacity Center and are updated periodically.

Bias Literacy

Bias Literacy: A Review of Concepts in Research on Discrimination (February 2008) offers a quick digest of the evidence for discrimination, especially with reference to women in science and engineering.  It explains common terminology and lists relevant legislation and national policy initiatives.  The twenty-five-page paper summarizes:  tradition versus bias; conscious versus unconscious discrimination; overt versus covert discrimination; personal versus institutional bias; gender schema theory; accumulated advantage; stereotype threat; implicit bias theory; glass ceiling; mommy track; occupational segregation; statistical profiling; climate study; the value of diversity in learning.  A short section lists some national and international measures of discrimination against women and benchmarking efforts.  There is a list of major organizations working for diversity, with links. The paper is a short tour for people new to the topic.  Many of the concepts are more fully described in the recent national report Beyond Bias and Barriers (2007), which inspired this “literacy” effort.

Authored by Ruta Sevo and Daryl Chubin, the chapter may be purchased here (or through Amazon.com).

Title IX

A Title IX Timeline: The Enforcement of Title IX in Science and Engineering Education is a ten-page chronology of the policy movement to use Title IX compliance reviews to put pressure on universities to improve on the low numbers of women in science and engineering and to address biases in institutional policies and practices that contribute to the discouragement or exclusion of women.  It lists documents that pave the intellectual course from 2000 to now, with links. Items recommended for quick study are marked. 

Authored by Ruta Sevo, the timeline (HTML, PDF) may be copied and distributed with attribution.
Visit:  momox.org

U.S. Education Department to Probe Program for Black Men on 16 CUNY Campuses
The U.S. Department of Education has opened investigations at 16 campuses of the City University of New York to determine whether a program to improve the enrollment and graduation rates of black men violates federal civil-rights law.  In April 2006, the New York Civil Rights Coalition filed a federal complaint with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights about CUNY's proposed "Black Male Initiative," which the civil-rights group charged would offer "remedial and differential treatment" to students based on race and gender. The group argued that such a segregated pedagogy violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.  The Office for Civil Rights received a second complaint from the same group, in June 2006, charging discrimination in the hiring of staff members for the program.

Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education, News Blog, February 4, 2008
Visit:  The Chronicle website to view the article.

 
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