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Lizabeth is an Associate Dean and a professor at Cal Poly, SLO in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. In her role of Associate Dean, she advocates for equity and access. She has been teaching for 22 years and has continued to develop innovative pedagogy such as project based, flipped classroom and competency grading. Through the SUSTAIN SLO learning initiative, she and her colleagues have been active researching in transformation in higher education.

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Lizabeth is an Associate Dean and a professor at Cal Poly, SLO in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. In her current role so advocates for access and equity for undergraduates at the university. She has been teaching for 25 years and has continued to develop innovative pedagogy such as project based, flipped classroom and competency grading. Through the SUSTAIN SLO learning initiative she and her colleagues have been active researching in transformation in higher education.

In this paper, we describe Advancing Cultural Change (ACC), an action-oriented research initiative that engages undergraduates in ethnographic research to explore university culture and the lived experiences of its community members. Despite continued efforts to broaden participation in engineering programs across the country, there remains significant underrepresentation of racial minorities and women. This lack of diversity is due, in part, to exclusionary behaviors, such as bias and discrimination that pervade the cultures of engineering. Drawing on critical theories including intersectionality and critical methodologies in anthropology, ACC is aimed at making the experiences of underrepresented groups visible while strategizing collectively on ways to reduce cultural biases and to foster a more inclusive campus, specifically in engineering fields. We present preliminary data from a novel method developed during ACC research. The method, called Articulating a Succinct Description, uses ethnographic data to create case study interventions facilitated with undergraduate students to disseminate research findings; address problems presented in the case; and collect more data for further analysis. Emerging findings show how bias and discrimination shape the culture of engineering and how discussions around these incidents vary depending on the demographic makeup of the facilitation groups (race, gender, and major field of study). Preliminary analysis of data raises two critical questions: (1) how can the Articulating a Succinct Description method promote allyship and cultural change within engineering? and (2) how do students engage differently with case studies about racial and gender bias in an engineering class compared to an anthropology class? We suggest that this innovative qualitative method, which serves both as a means of intervention and a means of inquiry, can provide underrepresented engineering students opportunities for their voices to be heard and to gain support from their peers. Further, it engages majority (white, male) students in efforts to create more inclusive cultures in engineering. IntroductionExtensive research and programmatic efforts have addressed the underrepresentation of women and people of color in the fields of engineering. Yet, despite the amount of attention and money that has been put towards diversifying engineering, the field remains homogenous 1, 2 . This lack of diversity within engineering is due, in part, to exclusionary behaviors, such as bias and discrimination that pervade the culture of engineering. Negative stereotypes, bias, and unwelcoming environments have been shown to prevent women and people of color from considering engineering or prevent them from finishing their degrees 3-7 .Our research initiative, Advancing Cultural Change (ACC), whose Principal Investigator is a feminist cultural anthropologist, addresses the exclusionary culture of engineering by engaging undergraduates in ethnographic research to explore university culture and the lived experien...