2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This evidence-based practice paper describes anticipated challenges and strategies to implement proposed changes to the ABET General Criteria. In fall 2021, ABET released proposed changes to the General Criteria for accrediting engineering programs, including (a) definitions for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and (b) changes incorporating a basic grasp of these concepts to the curriculum (Criterion 5) and faculty (Criterion 6). Anticipating the approval of the proposed changes in early 2023, a group of 20 institutions gathered in October 2022 to brainstorm the strategies and challenges of integrating DEI into undergraduate engineering programs. The event drew 71 participants organized into 19 teams (primarily grouped by institutional affiliation).

Before the three-day convening, teams submitted a draft version of their plans to address the changes proposed by ABET. Throughout the workshop, teams further developed their plans, and gave feedback to and received feedback from at least two other teams. In this paper, we identify common issues across institutions related to the implementation and assessment of DEI that might be navigated collaboratively, based on document analysis and participants’ survey responses. Specifically, we discuss the challenges and supports commonly expressed by event participants, and we present a set of recommendations that might help institutions strategize and implement action plans addressing the incorporation of DEI in ABET Criteria 5 and 6, if or when approved.

Collectively, those aiming to institutionalize DEI competencies among their faculty and student bodies (perhaps setting the proposed ABET changes as a ‘minimum bar’, as some of the event participants noted) would be well served by (a) developing and sharing strategic plan templates, (b) forming a cross-institutional committee to create a model DEI Framework that could be adapted and adopted by a diverse set of institutions, (c) sharing examples of DEI assessments, and (d) providing research-based strategies for institutionalization based on organizational change/transformation literature. A round table discussion is the preferred presentation method for this paper.