2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Carnegie Mellon University, Johns Hopkins University, and New York University created the Project ELEVATE Alliance (AGEP Grant – Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM in the Directorate for STEM Education) to develop a model promoting the equitable advancement of early career tenure-stream engineering African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders (AGEP) faculty. The goal of this AGEP Faculty Career Pathways Alliance Model (FCPAM) grant is to develop, implement, self-study, and institutionalize a career pathway model, that can be adapted for use at similar institutions, for advancing early career engineering faculty from these groups. In this paper we will provide an overview of the project’s successes during its first and second year. this project’s progress which is now in its second year. We will also present our process for engaging with our multi-institutional team and how we are using the results from our self-study team.

The Alliance interventions are focusing on three major pillars of activity, 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. The main pillars have informed our efforts during the early years of the grant.

Within the Equity-Focused Institutional Change pillar, the team collected 10 years of hiring and promotion data at CMU, NYU, and JHU to determine the hiring rates and promotion rates of AGEP and non-AGEP faculty members. Examining best practices in the faculty hiring practices in each participating engineering school ensures that a broad and deep pool of applicants are identified and equitably assessed. Additionally, this team is developing materials for promotion and tenure (P&T) committees which provide resources that they may use when requesting outside letters of reference in P&T cases. We will self-study policies, processes, and norms to ensure clarity and assess and create guidance for all faculty. Through the Inclusive Professional Development pillar, we developed content and implemented professional development in Inclusive Communication. With the Identity-Affirming Mentorship pillar, our team is developing and implementing a matching process for mentors and mentees. Moreover, this pillar will focus on building community within and across the alliance for AGEP faculty through social and networking events during the semester.

Beyond our pillars, we conducted a SWOT analysis of the ELEVATE Alliance Team as well as mentors and mentees to assess their perceptions of our efforts. When asked if they believed Project ELEVATE is making adequate progress towards its goals and benchmarks, both groups responded positively: Alliance Team (87% agree) and mentors-mentees (88% agree). From the analysis, key strengths identified include recruitment strategy, effective collaboration, and engagement focus. Regarding improvements, respondents suggested increased collaboration, improved support from leadership, expanded participation, enhanced engagement for mentees, and the value of strategic planning for the project's future.