Flying with Sankofa: Moving forward by learning from the past

Posted: Aug 23 2022 by

Ruthmae Sears
University of South Florida

Laura Frost
Florida Gulf Coast University

Alec Cattell
Texas Tech University

Alec Cattell, Texas Tech University; Laura Frost, Florida Gulf Coast University; and Ruthmae Sears, University of South Florida

*All authors contributed equally to the document.

It is important to celebrate the heroes in our society who spoke up, and who took action to change systems and improve the lives of many. For instance, our nation celebrates heroes like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose legacy continues to inspire civil rights initiatives and advocacy for equitable opportunities. The living legend Shirley Malcom, director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) SEA Change program, was recently celebrated when her name was recognized on a building at her alma mater, Penn State University. Over her career, Dr. Malcom has tirelessly advocated and brought attention to the challenges of intersectionality, specifically the challenges faced by women of color in the sciences. More

Is the Bus Lane Missing for Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity and Justice (DEIJ) Initiatives in Higher Education?

Posted: May 26 2022 by

Reema Zeineldin
Framingham State College

Martina Rosenberg
University of Connecticut

Martina Rosenberg, She/hers, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT and Reema Zeineldin, She/her, Framingham State University, Framingham, MA

We all want to travel to desired places, but we do not all use the same means to get to our destination. Modes of transportation are human-powered or require replenishment of fuel. Some of us travel in isolation, others car-pool to tackle the journey together, or use public transportation. Progress may feel more like insignificant baby steps and less like traveling in the fast lane where pooling resources and effective pathways decreases demands on each individual. Similarly, context and strategies vary in institutions of higher education, when initiating improvements in institutional climates. More

What is Social Justice in STEMM Higher Education

Posted: Apr 15 2022 by

Sharon Homer-Drummond, PhD
Tri-County Technical College

Carlos Goller
North Carolina State University

Patricia Marsteller
Emory University

Pat Marstellar (she/her/hers), Emory University, Carlos Goller (he/him/his), North Carolina State University, and Sharon Homer-Drummond (she/her/hers), Tri-County Technical College

Social justice in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) higher education may be defined as ensuring that all students see themselves as fully represented and supported members of STEMM fields, even as new students (Byars-Winston & Dahlberg, 2020). That baseline implies that each student's cultural, religious, sexual and, gender identities, nationality, and socio-economic backgrounds are respected, welcomed, and honored in the STEMM courses. Social justice also includes access for learners of various backgrounds and preparation, of variously-abled situations, and socio-economic status. Social justice in STEMM also requires that faculty are as diverse as the student body, and that curricula include robust representation of fully diverse scientists, their data, and their work. Students can then see perspectives of counter-stereotypical scientists, and see themselves in those roles and in that work. The current reality in STEMM classrooms does not reflect that ideal of social justice. We therefore argue that curricula, faculty and staff, and school support systems need to change in order to incorporate social justice into STEMM. More

Enacting Rightful Presence to Promote Students' Belonging

Posted: Feb 24 2022 by

Ruthmae Sears
University of South Florida

Ken Griffith
Texas Tech University

Alec Cattell
Texas Tech University

Alec Cattell, Texas Tech University, Ken Griffith, Texas Tech University, and Ruthmae Sears, University of South Florida

As we educators pursue equitable and just practices in STEM education, we acknowledge our students' diverse experiences and challenges, and we recognize the importance of their sense of belonging in our learning communities. Too often, we focus on quantifiable differences without considering how our actions and policies can impact the ways our students' voices and presence are valued and the extent to which their beliefs and dispositions are respected within our community. By enacting rightful presence (Calabrese & Tan, 2020), we can foster the sense of belonging that is essential for all students, particularly underrepresented groups, to succeed in our classrooms (Rainey et al., 2018 ). More

Learning from Evaluation of Effective Teaching Event: Change Leaders Perspectives

Posted: Sep 27 2021 by

Rachel Renbarger
Western Michigan University

Madhura Kulkarni
Northern Kentucky University

Madhura Kulkarni, Northern Kentucky University and Rachel Renbarger, Western Michigan University

At the end of August, three ASCN working groups came together to put on an event called, "Evaluation of effective and inclusive teaching: How can teaching and learning center professionals be involved in change for social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion?" (We will refer to social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion as JEDI for ease throughout this post.) We recommend that people interested in the event watch the recording and access the resources on the event page, but the purpose of this blog post is to highlight what we learned from this event so that other change agents can implement the findings into their work immediately.

Big questions that we wanted to focus on included the who, what, and how of transforming teaching. To understand how change happens, and how we might help create teaching evaluation change on our campuses, we asked Dr. Susan Elrod to describe her work modeling institutional change. More