Invitation to Engage: Innovative and Collaborative Approaches to Diversifying the STEM Professoriate

Abstract

Abstract-In order to address the challenges of the XXI century, especially those related to global sustainability, it is critical that institutions of higher education recruit, retain, and advance a diverse and excellent STEM professoriate. Notwithstanding awareness and programmatic interventions such as the National Science Foundation's Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program and ADVANCE program, in the United States, African Americans, Hispanic/Latinos, and women remain underrepresented at all points along the pathway to the STEM professoriate. This paper highlights the University of Maryland, Baltimore County's (UMBC) efforts to acknowledge and directly confront its own challenges with faculty diversity in STEM through innovative approaches and partnerships under the rubric of "Invitation to Engage." We hope that our conversations about this pressing issue, along with a review of our expanded approaches, will encourage other institutions to examine their current practices, and serve as an adaptable model to enact change. Through this paper we issue an open invitation for others to critically engage in these dialogues and to develop and take impactful and novel actions to repair the pathway to the STEM professoriate.Keywords Resumén-Con el fin de abordar los retos del siglo XXI, especialmente aquellos relacionados a la sostenibilidad global, es de suma importancia que las instituciones de educación superior incorporen, retengan y promuevan una facultad diversa y de alto grado en el área de STEM. A pesar de los esfuerzos de concientización e intervención de programas como el Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) y ADVANCE de la Fundación Nacional de Ciencia (NSF), existe en los Estados Unidos una baja representación de africano americanos, hispanos/latinos, y mujeres en la vía a formar parte de la facultad en el área de STEM. Este trabajo subraya los esfuerzos realizados en la Universidad de Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) para sacar a relucir y confrontar directamente dichos retos en su propia facultad de STEM utilizando innovadores enlaces y enfoques bajo la rúbrica "Invitación a Participar". Esperamos que nuestro dialogo sobre esta cuestión apremiante y el resumen de nuestro amplio enfoque aliente a otras instituciones a examinar sus prácticas internas y sirvan como modelo para promover el cambio. A través de este trabajo ofrecemos una invitación abierta para que otros también aborden críticamente estos diálogos y desarrollen acciones innovadoras para reparar la trayectoria para formar parte de la facultad en STEM.Abstract-In order to address the challenges of the XXI century, especially those related to global sustainability, it is critical that institutions of higher education recruit, retain, and advance a diverse and excellent STEM professoriate. Notwithstanding awareness and programmatic interventions such as the National Science Foundation's Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program and ADVANCE program, in the United St...