2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 238: Collaborative Research: AGEP FC-PAM: Project ELEVATE (Equity-focused Launch to Empower and Value AGEP Faculty to Thrive in Engineering)

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session

Three highly selective private engineering schools in the Northeast created the Project ELEVATE Alliance (Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM in the Directorate for STEM Education) to develop a model to promote the equitable advancement of early career tenure-stream engineering faculty from populations of interest to the AGEP program. The goal of this AGEP Faculty Career Pathways Alliance Model (FCPAM) is to develop, implement, self-study, and institutionalize a career pathway model, that can be adapted for use at other similar institutions, for advancing early career STEM faculty who are members of populations of interest to the AGEP program: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. This AGEP FCPAM will provide a framework for institutional change at private, highly selective research institutions that will enable all faculty to be members of a collaborative community. Improving the experience of these faculty can lead to increased diversity in the engineering faculty and ultimately result in graduating more STEM students from diverse populations and increasing diversity in the STEM workforce.

The Alliance interventions will focus on three major areas, 1) equity-focused institutional change designed to make structural changes that support the advancement of AGEP faculty, 2) identity-affirming mentorship that acknowledges and provides professional support to AGEP faculty holistically, recognizing all parts of their identity and 3) inclusive professional development that equips all engineering faculty and institutional leaders with skills to implement inclusive practices and equips AGEP faculty for career advancement.

In this paper, we will discuss the process of creating a leadership team to address these focus areas and to begin to institutionalize these change efforts. We will also discuss successes and challenges in recruiting AGEP faculty and mentors, including documenting our recruitment materials and methods. Lastly, we will present our process for engaging in our initial self-study evaluation and next steps.

Authors

Dr. Alaine M Allen Carnegie Mellon University [biography]

Dr. Alaine M. Allen is an educator who intentionally works to uplift the voices of and create opportunities for individuals from groups historically marginalized in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) environments. She currently serve
Darlene Saporu
Elisa Riedo New York University Tandon School of Engineering
Shelley L Anna Carnegie Mellon University
Dr. Linda DeAngelo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8508-5909 University of Pittsburgh [biography]

Linda DeAngelo is Associate Professor of Higher Education, Center for Urban Education Faculty Fellow, and affiliated faculty in the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. DeAngelo studies social stratification, investigating how social inequities are produced, maintained, and interrupted. Currently her scholarship focuses on access to and engagement in faculty mentorship, the pathway into and through graduate education, and gender and race in engineering.
Dr. Andrew Douglas The Johns Hopkins University
Nathalie Florence Felciai New York University Tandon School of Engineering
Dr. Neetha Khan Carnegie Mellon University
Dr. Jelena Kovacevic New York University
Stacey J Marks The Johns Hopkins University
Dr. William Harry Sanders Carnegie Mellon University [biography]

Education
Ph.D.; Computer Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, 1988
M.S.E.; Computer, Information and Control Engineering, University of Michigan, 1985
B.S.; Computer Engineering, University of Michigan, 1983

Academic Positions Held
Strecker Dean of Engineering, College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 2020-present.
Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 2020-present.

Interim Director, Discovery Partners Institute (DPI), University of Illinois System, 2018-2019.
Founding director for DPI, which is a joint education, research, and innovation institute led by the University of Illinois System (U of I System) and its three universities, and is backed by a $500M appropriation from the State of Illinois. DPI’s mission is to establish collaborative partnerships that address 21st century societal grand challenges, promote entrepreneurship, and educate the next-generation workforce. Its primary goal is to conduct purpose-driven research and education that create actionable results that will have tangible results throughout the economy, including those for the underserved. As DPI’s first full-time director, I have moved the institute from vision to reality while engaging a diverse set of stakeholders. During the 8 months that I have served as interim director, I have 1) built strong faculty support and engagement (including ~1000 faculty across our three system universities), 2) built strong support and engagement with the Chicago business and tech community, 3) opened a 20,000 sq. ft. facility for the institute in downtown Chicago, and 4) announced and/or built relationships with 5 non-UI system DPI academic partners.

Herman M. Dieckamp Endowed Chair in Engineering, UIUC, 2019-2020.
This named professorship was given to Sanders in 2019 for his contributions related to trustworthy systems, particularly those that protect critical infrastructure.

Head, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UIUC, 2014-Present (on leave as of Aug. 2018).
Interim Head, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UIUC, 2013-2014.
Executive officer (Head) for department with approximately 110 faculty members and 60 staff; responsible for administrative, budgetary, hiring, and tenure decisions, and for leading the faculty and staff in the development of research, teaching, and public service programs. Oversees administrative and research expenditures of about $75M per year. Oversees and participates in extensive advancement activities as head, including managing and increasing the Dept. endowment of approximately $75M. Leads aggressive faculty hiring campaign that has hired 35 new tenure-track, 8 teaching, and 5 research faculty since Jan. 2014.

Director, Coordinated Science Laboratory, UIUC, 2010-2014.
Acting Director, Coordinated Science Laboratory, UIUC, 2008-2010.
Executive officer (Director) of laboratory; responsible for research program with over 100 faculty members and 350 technical staff members. During Sanders’s term as director, CSL’s annual research expenditures rose from $17M to over $40M. It is a premier, multidisciplinary research laboratory that focuses on information technology at the crossroads of computing, control, and communications. During Sanders’s tenure as director, CSL contained 3 institutes (the Advanced Digital Sciences Center, the Information Trust Institute, and the Parallel Computing Institute) and 7 centers (Center for Exascale Simulation of Plasma-Coupled Combustion; Center for People and Infrastructures; CompGEN; the Health Care Engineering Systems Center; the National Center for Professional & Research Ethics; SONIC Systems on Nanoscale Information fabriCs; and TCIPG, the Trustworthy Cyber Infrastructure for the Power Grid Center).

Member, Board of Directors, Illinois at Singapore Pte. Ltd., 2016-Present.

Associate Director, Advanced Digital Sciences Center, UIUC, 2009-2016.
Co-founded Center in 2009; is Illinois-based lead of the center, responsible (together with director) for its overall operation. ADSC is a bricks-and-mortar research laboratory in Singapore, with 14 participating Illinois faculty, 57 full-time technical staff members, and about $70M U.S. in research funding (over 7 years) from the government of Singapore.

Donald Biggar Willett Professor in Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UIUC, 2005-2018.
This named professorship was given to Sanders in 2005 for his contributions in dependability/security evaluation, reliable and secure systems, and computer systems modeling and analysis.

Director, Information Trust Institute, UIUC, 2004-2011.
Executive officer (founding Director); established the Institute and grew it to include over 100 faculty from 28 departments, bringing in over $80M of external research funding and creating or helping create the TCIP and TCIPG (Trustworthy Cyber Infrastructure for the Power Grid) Centers, the Boeing Trusted Software Center, the Illinois Cyber Security Scholars Program, the Illinois Center for a Smarter Electric Grid, the Center for Assured Critical Application & Infrastructure Security (CACAIS), the Assured Cloud Computing University Center of Excellence, and an NSA Science of Security Lablet.

Professor, Information Trust Institute, UIUC, 2004-Present.

Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UIUC, 1998-2019.

Professor, Coordinated Science Laboratory, UIUC, 1998-2019.

Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UIUC, 1994-1998.

Research Associate Professor, Coordinated Science Laboratory, UIUC, 1994-1998.

Faculty Affiliate, Department of Computer Science, UIUC, 1994-Present.

Associate Professor, Dept. of Electrical and Comp. Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 1994.

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Elect. and Comp. Engineering, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 1988-1994.
Dr. Tuviah "Ed" E. Schlesinger The Johns Hopkins University
Yao Wang
Ms. Jacqueline Rohde Purdue University, West Lafayette [biography]

Jacqueline (Jacki) Rohde is the Assessment Coordinator in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her interests are in sociocultural norms in engineering and the professional development of engineering students.
Charlie Díaz University of Pittsburgh [biography]

Charlie Diaz is a PhD student studying Higher Education at the University of Pittsburgh. He is a recipient of the K. Leroy Irvis Fellowship. His research interests include minoritized student experiences in Higher Ed, student activism, and the development of inclusive policy and practice in Higher Ed.
Nelson O. O. Zounlomè University of Pittsburgh [biography]

Nelson O. O. Zounlome, Ph.D., is the Founder, CEO, and a mental health & academic thrive consultant through Liberate The Block (https://liberatetheblock.com/) ~ an agency dedicated to helping Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in higher ed thrive. Dr. Z. is also a first-generation college graduate, child of immigrants, and a published author. He is a former McNair Scholar, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, & Medicine-Ford Foundation Fellow, Herman B. Wells Graduate Fellow, International Counseling Psychologist, former Assistant Professor at the University of Kentucky, and current Post-Doctoral Research Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Z.'s research program focuses on examining the impact of intersectional oppression on historically excluded groups & creating culturally relevant interventions to enhance their well-being. Within this framework, he studies academic persistence and mental wellness to promote holistic healing among BIPOC. He earned Bachelor's degrees in Psychology & Sociology, a Master's degree in Learning Science-Educational Psychology Track, and is a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University. In addition to work, Dr. Z. loves reading, discovering new music/art, outdoor activities, time with friends and family, and living a holistically full life.

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