The project proposes to integrate NSF-funded efforts at the University of Washington (UW) in an innovative way to improve the experiences of underrepresented undergraduate minorities, women and students with disabilities in the College of Engineering. A primary catalyst for this synergy is the use of the UW's PEERs project (Promoting Equity in Engineering Relationships), which seeks to positively impact the climate of engineering through a cadre of change agents who create and encourage improved and more equitable relationships. The four institutional partners for the proposed collaboration are the institution's: 1. ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change; 2. Center for Workforce Development; 3. Center for Engineering Learning and Teaching (CELT); and 4. Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology (DO-IT).
These institutional partners will use the PEERs model to enhance the goals of three NSF-funded projects and to leverage lessons learned from the existing awards to work toward improving the climate for and the participation of underrepresented minority, female and disabled engineering students; and provide a foundation for campus-wide replication. The three NSF awards upon which the I3 project will build include: 1. Collaborative Research - Northwest Engineering Talent Expansion Partnership: A Coordinated Regional Recruitment and Retention Effort (DUE-0431659); 2. CCLI: Developing Engineering Lifelong Learners Through Freshman Seminars and Faculty Development Workshops (DUE-0737535); and 3. Northwest Alliance for Access to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (HRD-0227995).
Four primary objectives will be achieved by this project 1. Raise awareness of unconscious and implicit biases toward underrepresented minority, women and disabled students; 2. Promote actions both majority and underrepresented minority, women and disabled students and faculty can take to counteract these biases to cultivate a more welcoming and success-promoting climate; 3. Cultivate change agents among both student and faculty bodies; and 4. Build a foundation, and collaboration mechanisms, for future efforts to make STEM and other programs campus-wide welcoming and accessible to underrepresented minority, women and disabled students.
Current research demonstrates that women, African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and people with disabilities are underrepresented at the undergraduate level in engineering on a national scale. The University of Washington’s College of Engineering has acknowledged similar trends in its undergraduate enrollment and has sought to remedy this through an NSF-funded intervention program entitled, "Promoting Equity in Engineering Relationships" (PEERs). The long-term goal of PEERs is to increase the participation of all underrepresented groups in engineering. To that end, PEERs has developed and implemented two student-level interventions, including an annual seminar on diversity in engineering, and a peer-to-peer internship program whereby previous seminar students serve as campus change agents. PEERs has also implemented three campus-level interventions: a Campus Climate Survey, two Capacity Building Institutes, and an online Community of Practice. This report will highlight three of the most effective aspects of PEERs—the one-credit seminar, the peer-to-peer internship, and the campus climate survey. The PEERs seminar was created to engage engineering students in transforming structural and societal barriers to equity in engineering. The curriculum design educates engineering students on social science research on diversity, including topics such as privilege, unexamined bias, structural bias, allyship, and socialization. Research was chosen to maximize relevance for engineers, with content focused on demographic trends, personal narratives, and analyses specific to engineering. Between 2009 and 2013, the course was offered five times to a total of 67 students. Upon post-PEERs evaluation, it was found that students held significantly different understandings about diversity and acted in significantly different ways towards biases and diversity. Upon evaluation, the following outcomes were listed as statistically significant: I understand how institutions may unintentionally perpetuate bias in engineering; I understand the concept of white privilege; I challenge situations of bias when I observe them; I talk with my friends/peers/colleagues about bias; and I make positive contributions to the engineering community with respect to diversity issues. Given the effectiveness of the seminar, it could serve as an excellent diversity course or cultural sensitivity training model for other academic disciplines and/or institutions. The seminar will continue to be offered at the University of Washington after the NSF grant concludes. PEERs has made all course materials, including the syllabus, presentation slides, and readings, available for public use on its website at www.engr.washington.edu/peers/students/coursepage.html. A second facet of the PEERs program that has proven effective is the peer-to-peer internship program known as the "PEERs Leaders." Following a model established by the University of Michigan ADVANCE’s STRIDE program, PEERs Leaders are students who wish to serve as diversity change agents in a formal capacity. Leaders engage in a variety of outreach activities that range from classroom, conference, and faculty meeting presentations on diversity to educational activities for K-12 students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Since 2010, 23 students have participated as PEERs Leaders. Collectively, they have given more than 35 presentations to approximately 700-1,000 individuals. When evaluated, PEERs Leaders felt more strongly that they were proactive agents in countering bias at the University of Washington than those who were not PEERs Leaders. The program will continue after the NSF grant expires. Like the seminar, the PEERs Leaders program could be used as a diversity outreach model and implemented at other institutions. The PEERs Leaders webpage is available at www.engr.washington.edu/peers/students/leaders.html. The third PEERs’ intervention, the campus climate surveys, provided valuable data to the UW College of Engineering. PEERs administered two campus climate surveys, one in November of 2010 and one in May of 2013. The 2010 survey provided the College of Engineering community with baseline climate information and data-driven evidence that climate differentially impacts the experience of underrepresented student groups. The 2013 survey results indicate that the College of Engineering’s climate improved between 2009 and 2013. Furthermore, students who had heard of PEERs indicated significantly higher average ratings related to interaction with other students, involvement with campus activities, and confidence than students who had not heard of PEERs. The campus climate survey results and instrument is available at www.engr.washington.edu/peers/dissemination/survey.html
