2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Members’ Personal and Professional Perspectives on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Presented at Track 5: Technical Session 1: Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Members' Personal and Professional Perspectives on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Individuals from racially and ethnically minoritized identities, women, and persons with disabilities continue to be minoritized in STEM academic programs and in the STEM workforce. Recognizing incumbent faculty members are gatekeepers to student success, and ultimately the STEM workforce (including academia), we aim to understand how their perspectives on diversity, equity, and inclusion might influence their professional practice.

We conducted a nationwide survey of STEM faculty members and administrators using an adapted version of Pohan and Aguilar’s Personal and Professional Beliefs about Diversity scales. The questions on the Pohan and Aguilar scales cover several dimensions of diversity – race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, socioeconomic status, disability, and sexual orientation; this study included results from items related to race, ethnicity, and nationality. Though these instruments account for social desirability bias, we added items from a 10-item version of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale to determine respondents’ tendency toward social conformity and examine the extent to which responses on the beliefs scales might be impacted by those tendencies.

The research questions that guide this study are:

• What is the relationship between engineering and computer science faculty members’ personal and professional beliefs about race, ethnicity, and nationality?
• To what extent are those beliefs influenced by social desirability bias?

We administered the survey to faculty members and administrators in all STEM disciplines, including social and behavioral sciences. Of the 334 who responded to all three sections (personal beliefs, professional beliefs, and social desirability), 84 had primary appointments in engineering or computer science, and thus, comprised this study population. We found a moderate positive correlation between respondents’ personal and professional beliefs. We did not find a significant relationship between personal or professional belief scores and tendency toward social conformity; however, our results indicated respondents were more favorably disposed toward personal beliefs about race, ethnicity, and nationality than professional beliefs and the relative frequency of those responses occurred in the presence of high social conformity.

Authors

Dr. Yvette E. Pearson P.E. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8781-7085 University of Texas at Dallas [biography]

Dr. Yvette E. Pearson is the former Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at The University of Texas at Dallas. A Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), she is recognized globally for nearly 30 years in higher education, particularly for her work to advance sustainability, access, and opportunity in STEM education and practice. Her university-based and consulting efforts have led to over $40M in funding for projects to support initiatives in STEM and changes to policies and practices of global engineering organizations.

Pearson is a registered Professional Engineer, an ENVISION® Sustainability Professional, and a Commissioner on ABET’s Engineering Accreditation Commission. Among her awards and honors are ABET’s Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity and Inclusion, ASCE’s Professional Practice Ethics and Leadership Award, the Society of Women Engineers’ Distinguished Engineering Educator Award, the UT System Regents Outstanding Teaching Award, and ASCE’s President’s Medal, one of the highest honors awarded in this global organization of over 150,000 members. Her podcast, ENGINEERING CHANGE, has audiences in over 80 counries on six continents. Her book, Making a Difference: How Being Your Best Self Can Influence, Inspire, and Impel Change, chronicles her journey and her work’s focus on “making sure other ‘Yvettes’ don’t fall through the cracks.”
Dr. Canek Moises Luna Phillips http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6571-2733 Rice University [biography]

Dr. Canek Phillips is a Research Scientist at in the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University where his research interests touch broadly on efforts to promote greater equity for underrepresented groups in engineering. Canek earned his PhD
Dr. Lisa J. Borello University of Texas at Dallas [biography]

Dr. Lisa Borello is a mixed methods sociologist with research interests in advancing the representation of historically underserved groups in STEM, medical sociology, and equity in education. She has spent more than 20 years in higher education.
Dr. Torrie Cropps
Dr. Jue Wu Univertify of Florida [biography]

Jue Wu is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Administration in the College of Education at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on diversity and equity issues in STEM higher education.
Ms. Samara Rose Boyle [biography]

Samara is an undergraduate studying neuroscience at Rice University in Houston, TX. She works as a research assistant for Dr. Yvette E. Pearson in the George R. Brown School of Engineering. Her primary research focus is the advancement of diversity, equit

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on February 9, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on February 11, 2025

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