Diversity in engineering is a complex and multifaceted issue that is often misunderstood. It is often incorrectly assumed that engineering faculty have sufficient information to critically think about and address diversity issues, despite their limited awareness or understanding of the systemic inequality. The lack of awareness and understanding of the intricacies of diversity limits the ability of engineering faculty to meaningfully engage in addressing diversity in engineering. As a result, despite years of effort and considerable research focusing on attracting and retaining a diverse engineering students, domestic diversity remains limited throughout engineering and the “chilly” climate endures. Retention rates for African-American students (42.1%), Native Americans (52.9%) and Hispanics (62.5%) all still persist below those of non-Hispanic whites (73.7%). Yet faculty should care about diversity. A diverse student population has been shown to positively impact several student outcomes such as critical thinking, creativity, and teaming skills. Also, diversity has been shown to be a driving force in business to optimize innovation, economic growth, and market share. As a result, this talk is designed to initiate an honest conversation and present a proposed conceptual model to engage engineering faculty in the national conversation about diversity in higher education broadly but more specifically in engineering. 

Biography

Dr. Cross earned her Bachelors of Science in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University in 2007. She earned her Masters of Science in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 2011 and completed her doctoral program in the Engineering Education department at Virginia Tech in 2015. She is currently working as a post-doctoral researcher with the Illinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and collaborating with multiple teams of engineering faculty on implementing and assessing instructional innovation. Dr. Cross recently facilitated a conversation about bias in engineering through the professional society Women’s in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) and will facilitate Safe Zone Training workshops for engineering faculty through the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE). Her research interests include diversity and inclusion in STEM, teamwork and communication skills, assessment, and identity construction. Her teaching philosophy focuses on student centered approaches such as problem-based learning and culturally relevant pedagogy.