Implementation of Advocates and Allies Programs to Support and Promote Gender Equity in Academia

Bilen-Green, Canan; Carpenter, J. P.; Doore, Stacy A.; Green, R.; Horton, Karen J.; Jellison, K.; Latimer, Melissa; Levine, Michael K.; O'Neal, Donald

doi:10.18260/p.24242

Cited by 11 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…While a large amount of work has been done with male faculty encouraging their understanding of their role in helping retain and recruit more female faculty in a more climate friendly environment (Bilen-Green, Carpenter, Doore, Green, Horton, Jellison, Latimer, & O'Neal, 2015), little work exists on encouraging majority students at the undergraduate level to serve as advocates for underrepresented students. We would like to create learning communities where these topics are explored and students are exposed to skills that help create change in the engineering community at large.…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work in Progress: Expanding the Professional Formation of Engineers through a Cross-Cultural Communication Workshop for First-Year Students

Arnold-Christian¹,

Lee²,

DeLoach³

et al.

2017 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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This Work in Progress focuses on a local effort to embed cross-cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills into the professional formation of undergraduate engineering students. In particular, we will provide an overview of a cross-cultural communications workshop that was recently developed for implementation into two living-learning communities for engineering undergraduates at Virginia Tech. These living-learning communities were created to provide social and academic support for first-year female and male engineering students. Combined, these learning communities now support over 600 students, the majority of whom are enrolled in their first-year of college. This also includes a large support team of upperclassmen students (i.e., sophomores, juniors, and seniors) who serve as mentors and committee members. PurposeThe work presented here is part of a multi-year plan to impact every student involved in either of the living-learning communities. In this paper, we describe the work to date, which includes our collaboration with faculty in the field of sociology to develop the workshop and assessment results from its initial implementation. We also describe our next steps, which will include implementing a training program for upperclassmen leaders. In addition to the cross-cultural communications workshop, we will develop four more workshops on other topics related to diversity. Each workshop module will be one hour long. Our long-term goal is to have the students in the learning communities trained at a basic level to recognize why an understanding about diversity issues and developing cross-cultural skills is critical for their success.

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Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work in Progress: Expanding the Professional Formation of Engineers through a Cross-Cultural Communication Workshop for First-Year Students

Arnold-Christian¹,

Lee²,

DeLoach³

et al.

2017 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…17 In STEM departments, men constitute the dominant group and as such, they play a vital role in working toward gender equity. 18 From a social justice perspective, having allies, i.e., those from the dominant social group who understand the inequity placed on those in the minority, is critical in addressing issues with climate and improving the experience for all. 19,20 Since men in STEM fields have social power, they have the ability to be important agents of change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…19,20 Since men in STEM fields have social power, they have the ability to be important agents of change. 18 As Munin and Speight state, "Allies are a positive, disruptive force in an overarching system of oppression that melds institutional discrimination and personal prejudice into a pervasive web of domination." 20 The concept of male allies has been applied to academia at a number of institutions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…North Dakota State University developed an Advocates and Allies program to lead change in addressing the chilly climate for women in technology workplaces. 18 Participants in this program are male faculty members whose goal is to educate other male faculty about gender inequities in academia and strive to bring about positive change in their departments. Other institutions, including Louisiana Tech University, West Virginia University, Lehigh University, and the University of Maine have adopted similar models and programs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other institutions, including Louisiana Tech University, West Virginia University, Lehigh University, and the University of Maine have adopted similar models and programs. 18 Evidence suggests that Advocates and Allies faculty programs have a positive impact on the men who attend the trainings; one study found that 92.7% of the male faculty who attended ally training agreed to promote a more welcoming and inclusive environment for women faculty.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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