2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

During monthly meetings over the 2023-24 academic year, the Construction Engineering Technology (CET) faculty engaged with concepts of racial equity and the impacts that race and systemic whiteness have on higher education, and specifically construction engineering academic programs and professional careers in the field. After participating in years-long learning communities regarding Racial Equity in Higher Education, and co-facilitating two Racial Equity Institute Workshops for faculty, AUTHOR grew comfortable discussing and engaging with racial equity and race at our predominantly white institution. She deeply engaged with the CET faculty on topics that white people in the USA often find uncomfortable, and led discussions of privilege, dominant narratives, and the norms in education and construction engineering with a critical lens. Discussions included how to create more equitable learning environments for all students by changing classroom structures, assignments, and assessments, and on pushing back against the cultural norms that higher education and construction engineers often consider unchangeable.

Reflecting on the faculty meetings, as well as the outcomes and goals of the conversations, AUTHOR considered both her personal experience and growth, and interviewed participating colleagues and her planning partner at the teaching center at INSTITUTION. AUTHOR discusses the impact this project had on her and her ongoing projects. These self-reflections and interviews interrogate how the process impacted participants, where we learned and how we changed, and how it felt to engage in an intentional conversation about race in engineering higher education in retrospect.