2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

The value of higher education is under attack and the criticisms are many: cost, inadequate preparation of graduates for job-readiness, outdated curricula and degrees, outdated pedagogies, ineffective advising, unwelcoming classroom environments, inadequate diversity of faculty, ineffective operational models, etc. Engineering education is not immune to these criticisms and there have been many national reports urging reform of engineering education for decades. Transformation of higher education and engineering education is possible and exemplar programs that have made positive transformation do exist. In this paper, we share the story of launching Wake Forest Engineering from the perspective of recruiting, hiring, and building a diverse faculty and staff team to rethink and reimagine engineering education and engineering academic units. Driving goals being that (1) to educate a different kind of engineer, we need a different kind of team, (2) to aspire in recruiting a diverse student body, we need to build a diverse faculty and staff team, (3) to educate the whole engineer, we need to go beyond engineering. Ultimately, Wake Forest Engineering graduated its first three graduating cohorts by recruiting a faculty and staff team (permanent and visiting) that represented (1) disciplinary diversity (over 12 engineering disciplines, educational researchers, social scientists, humanists), (2) gender diversity (50% women faculty), (3) racial and ethnic diversity (25%), (4) diverse professional experience (e.g. practicing engineers and basic science engineers). As a result of hiring such a team, a diverse student body was recruited also and represented 40% women students and 25% racial/ethnic diversity. As a result of hiring a disciplinary diverse team, the engineering curriculum reflected interdisciplinary learning through an integrated curriculum. Professional knowledge and skills, ethics and character, and an entrepreneurial mindset were integrated in every engineering course. Diverse student centered pedagogies infused the whole engineering curriculum. In this paper, the following four categories of strategies will be discussed: (1) TEAM RECRUITMENT strategies to invite diverse applicants (e.g. non-traditional position descriptions, diversity of disciplines and experiences being welcomed), (2) research-grounded TEAM SELECTION strategies to minimize biases inherent in hiring (e.g. diverse search committees, holistic selection criteria, structured and consistent processes, non-traditional on site interviews), (3) TEAM DEVELOPMENT strategies to promote diversity of perspectives and new modes of collaboration and operation (e.g. agile team and project management training, faculty development targeting student centered learning pedagogies), and (4) TEAM REWARD strategies to align with vision and goals of the department. Excerpts from a hiring handbook will also be provided in the paper to point to specific steps in the hiring process. The end result of these efforts enabled Wake Forest Engineering to become the most diverse academic unit - in terms of student body and faculty body - and highest ranked academic program at Wake Forest University. Not only did the Wake Forest Engineering team reflect the most diverse team on the campus achieving unparalleled student outcomes, but the team became the second highest performing team/unit in regards to research and scholarly productivity within only six years. All these examples reflect an intentional commitment to Educate the Whole Engineer that needed to be embodied in both the faculty and student body. Theoretical underpinnings will be discussed in this paper along with the collaborative strategies used to deploy the strategies and continuously improve them. There are many implications for the strategies that will be shared for other engineering and higher education programs. These strategies can benefit not only new departments but also existing ones. Recruiting, hiring, and developing diverse faculty teams is possible and essential to supporting a diverse student population. There is urgency in this work for the betterment of higher education and engineering education.