institute on teaching & mentoring building capacity in stem: from participation to leadership...

Institute on Teaching & Mentoring

Building Capacity in STEM: From Participation to Leadership

Daryl E. Chubin, Ph.D.

Director, AAAS Capacity Center

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Atlanta, GA

October 21, 2011

Reality of My Lifetime

“Our nation is moving toward two societies, separate and unequal”*

Kerner Commission, 1968

(National Advisory Commission

on Civil Disorders)

* The second society has now become both Black and Hispanic.

Institute, Oct. 21, 2011

The Policy Imperative

It is not only legitimate, but also essential, to evaluate policy options partly on the basis of whether they are likely to reduce or increase racial inequalities.*Compromise policies—not explicitly race-targeted but . . . chosen partly

because they will benefit nonwhites especially—should become the basis

for policy debates.

For example, without using explicit racial classifications, we can devise districts and situate homes in ways that are more likely to produce integrated schools and neighborhoods.* Data matter and the problems we face are systemic, not limited to education or science alone. Institutions must reflect their mission statements and do more than assert the value of diversity—they must act to do so.

* D.S. King and R.M. Smith, “On Race, Silence is Bipartisan,” The New York Times, Sept. 2, 2011


The U.S. and Global STEM “Pipeline” ProblemNeed: Increase Educational And Workforce Access/Diversity for

Women and Underserved Minorities—A 21st Century imperative

Data: U.S. Trails 26 Other Developed Countries In The Proportion Of College

Students Graduating In STEM Fields

Women (50% of U.S. College-Age Population) & Underserved Minorities (ca. 40% of College-Age Population) Are Highly Underrepresented In STEM Higher Education/Degrees & STEM Workforce (incl. Academia)

Women, URM, Disabled = ca. 25% STEM Workforce v. 66% Total Workforce

The U.S. is losing vast, needed intellectual capacity to compete in the global economy, sustain its innovation leadership, and ensure its national security. We are under-educating and/or under-utilizing citizen talent. You are the counter-factual to this trend!


Distribution of Institutions Awarding PhDs (All Fields) to U.S. Minority-Group Members, 2005-2009

Total Institutions

Total PhDs% Awarded by Top 20

American Indian 193 669 39.6*

Asian 364 12,176 38.8

Black 372 9,825 26.6

Hispanic 351 8,253 33.7

* represents top 22 institutions

Note: Figures include U.S. citizens and permanent residents and represent totals for the period shown. People of Hispanic ethnicity may be of any race and are excluded from the categories of race shown. Numbers for American Indians include Alaska Natives. Figures for Asians exclude Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. Data from Survey of Earned Doctorates

Source: Diversity in Academe, September 25, 2011, The Chronicle of Higher Education

Percentage Changes in all Doctorates Awarded , by Race/Ethnicity and Broad STEM Fields, 1989 to 2009

Note: Percentages are based on the total of all doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens and permanent residents only, not to foreign students studying on temporary visas. People of Hispanic ethnicity may be of any race and are excluded from the categories of race shown. Life sciences include agricultural sciences/natural resources, biological/biomedical sciences, and health sciences. Physical sciences include mathematics and computer and information sciences. Data from Survey of Earned Doctorates

Source: Diversity in Academe, September 25, 2011, The Chronicle of Higher Education

American Indian

Asian Black Hispanic

1989 2009 1989 2009 1989 2009 1989 2009

Engineering 0.3 0.4 16.1 16.3 1.5 4.3 2.1 5.0

Life Sciences 0.2 0.4 5.1 10.3 2.2 5.4 2.1 5.0

Phys Sciences 0.5 0.2 7.3 9.9 1.2 3.1 2.4 4.2

All Fields 0.4 0.5 5.0 8.3 3.8 6.9 2.8 5.8

Source: Diversity in Academe, Sept. 25, 2011, The Chronicle of Higher Education (data from Survey of Earned Doctorates )

Percentage of PhD Recipients Whose Graduate School Debt Exceeded $30K, by Broad Field and Race/Ethnicity, 2009

Note: All figures are for U.S. citizens and permanent residents only, not those on temporary visas. The category "All" includes doctorates awarded to those who did not report their race. People of Hispanic ethnicity may be of any race and are excluded from the categories of race shown. “N/A" means that the source did not provide data because the number of respondents in that category was small and doing so might have identified individuals. Life sciences include agricultural sciences/natural resources, biological/biomedical sciences, and health sciences. Physical sciences include mathematics and computer and information sciences. Social sciences include psychology.

Source: Diversity in Academe, September 25, 2011, The Chronicle of Higher Education (data from Survey of Earned Doctorates)

American Indian

Asian Black Hispanic White All

Social sciences 52.2 21.7 52.1 41.9 36.4 37.1

Education 44.2 28.4 48.3 38.4 25.3 30.0

Humanities n/a 16.8 41.1 28.9 27.5 27.7

Life sciences 32.1 9.3 32.2 16.9 15.5 15.9

Physical sciences n/a 4.7 28.0 10.6 9.9 9.9

Engineering n/a 6.2 18.9 11.4 7.3 7.8

All fields 36.9 11.7 42.2 27.9 21.7 22.7

AAAS Capacity Center at a Glance• Origin: Established as a science & engineering human resource

development consulting service August 2004 with 3-year, $400K grant from Sloan Foundation to AAAS (www.aaascapacity.org)

• Mission: Through nationally-calibrated research & technical assistance in examining programs & outcomes, foster institutional capacity to . . .

recruit, enroll, & support STEM students diversify the faculty change programs, structures, & attitudes

• Clients/Sponsors: Institutions of higher education, corporations, federal agencies, & non-profits (e.g., Harvard-PRISE, HP-Teaching with Technology, LSU-LA STEM, NSF-BPC, NSF-DUE, NSF-STC, UW-CAEE, NACME, WEPAN, Florida, Purdue, Colorado School of Mines)

. . . focus on research, education, and institutional climate


Problem Thread of AAAS Capacity Center Work

• Who participates in STEM education and the workforce—who does not and why?

• How can institutions of higher education improve academic success, career advancement, and utilization of talent—students to faculty and other professions?

• How does Federal policy help/hinder?


Data Lessons—Analysts Should Look at . . .

• Numbers/trends (how many?)

• Composition (who?)

• Quality/creativity (what?)


Big Lesson: Operate on the Context, not just the Content

2004: To help guide program staff & university counsels in interpreting the Grutter and Gratz rulings . . .

2008: Sloan- and NSF-funded pilot project (AAAS/AAU) to identify effective STEM programs & practices for students and faculty, making them legally sustainable

See http://www.aaas.org/publications/books_reports/standingourground/


Handbook on Diversity and the Law—

Navigating A Complex Landscape to Foster Greater Faculty and Student Diversity in Higher Education

The Law Governing Effective Faculty and Student Body Diversity Programs in STEM and Related Disciplines . . . and Its Implications for Institutional Policy

AAAS-AAU, April 2010

http://php.aaas.org/programs/centers/capacity/publications/complexlandscape/

Summary and Highlights

http://php.aaas.org/programs/centers/capacity/documents/LawDiversity_SUMMARY.pdf

January 2011


AAAS-AAU Law & Diversity Project Objectives: • Identify And Foster Common Understanding Of Effective Diversity/Access Programs That

Are Also Legally Sustainable—STEM Focus, But Broadly Applicable• Build Productive Partnerships Of Academic Policy/Program And Legal Leaders To Design

And Implement Diversity/Access Programs• Support Measurable Progress Within 5-6 Years• Provide Practical Tools, through Workshops & Publication of Handbook, For Policymakers

and Lawyers

Sponsors: • Phase 1: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation & NSF (Aug. 2008-Sept. 2010) • Phase 2: NSF (Oct. 2010-Sept. 2012)

Leadership:

Dr. Daryl Chubin (AAAS) & Jamie Lewis Keith, Esq., (University of Florida), Project Directors

Dr. Shirley Malcom (AAAS), Senior Project Advisor

Dr. John Vaughn, AAU Liaison

Art Coleman/Scott Palmer (EducationCounsel LLC) and Bob Burgoyne/Prof. Ted Shaw (Fulbright & Jaworski LLP) Project Outside Counsel—Phase 1

Art Coleman, Project Outside Counsel with Burgoyne/Shaw as Advisory Board Chairs

Participation of College Board, ACE, NACUA, AAMC, AACC, APLU, Thurgood Marshall Fund, & IHEP—Phase 2


Law Distinguishes between Under-utilization v. “Pipeline Problem”

• Life sciences/academic medicine fraught with under-utilization of women

o PhD production at parity by gender, but hiring (and promotion) lags

o NPA reports that fewer than 1 in 3 postdocs will ever land a tenure-track position

• Pipeline problem exists for minority PhDso In science fields, there is an inadequate pool to populate

university departments

o According to CGS, only in life science disciplines African Americans complete the PhD at rates—overall and in time to degree—comparable to Whites/Asians, but are not hired in R1 departments


Where Law & Research/Policy Differ—A Challenge to Scholars

• What is morally virtuous–proportional representation—is legally a non‑starter : all depends on context, mission, data, and more

• Compositional change: clash of mission/mandate & rewards for certain behaviors (visible diversity) v. “conduct of inclusion” (race-neutral enacted diversity)

What are the implications for hiring, mentoring, & mainstreaming diversity as a core value?


• Outreach must penetrate the academic reward system.

• Gender and racial bias is a reality. Get over it—faculty mentoring helps.

• The student must take responsibility for completing doctoral requirements (“performance contract”).

• All kinds of institutions can be “minority-serving” (e.g., non-HBCUs).

• New Ph.D.’s underestimate the skills they possess (which extend beyond research).

• This is about leadership—there is an overarching need to grow leaders.

source: Focus groups with Packard Scholars, Monterey, CA & Washington, DC, 2005-06.

Also see D.E. Chubin, “Minding the Student Client,” Inside Higher Education, Feb. 13, 2006, http://insidehighered.com/views/2006/02/13/chubin

What Do STEM Minority Graduate Students Say?


NSF Policy Change: Family-Friendly Science?

• Allow postponement for one year of grants because of childbirth or adoption.

• Allow grant suspension for parental leave.

• Provide supplementary funds to cover the cost of hiring research technicians to maintain laboratories when grant recipients are on family leave.

• Permit those serving on peer review panels to meet with their colleagues virtually, rather than in person, to reduce child-care needs created by travel.

• Fund more research on the effectiveness of policies that are designed to keep women in the science pipeline.

source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/09/27/nsf_announces_changes_in_grant_rules_to_encourage_women_in_stem_fields


Why Is This Policy Important?

• Overdue

• Symbolic

• Enforceable

• Signal to other R&D agencies

• Raises expectation of university action


What the Capacity Center Has Learned from Working with Its University Clients

• S&E exhibits a narrow view of “merit”—bias toward performance over promise leads to risk-aversion

• Any collaboration or program that defies formal organization lines or relationships takes time to institutionalize

• Collaborations typically begin with soft money—and few survive to become lines in the institutional operating budget

• Innovators are not prophets in their own land—credibility comes from national/international recognition

• Data depersonalizes the conversation—institution-wide measures subject all units to the same criteria

• Campus leaders (President, Provost) can bless best practices of individual units and elevate them with institutional imprimatur


Penultimate Thought

“The abiding chasm between America’s haves and have-nots reminds us that Dr. King was a true prophet and of our responsibility to fight for justice in all its forms.”

source: “Dr. King’s Dreams,” The New York Times, Aug. 20, 2011


What Leaders Do . . .

• Set an overall tone

• Make expectations explicit

• Ensure fairness in processes

• Use cultural resources to create a mix of talent

• Stir the mix to maximize individual & group contributions

• Insist on accountability for achievement of goals

• In the words of the late Steve Jobs: Don’t settle!

Leaders “walk the talk” . . .


Thank you!

Daryl Chubin, Ph.D., Director

[email protected]

AAAS Capacity Center

www.aaascapacity.org


institute on teaching & mentoring building capacity in stem: from participation to leadership...

Documents

biologicalbiomedical

information sciences

health sciences

doctorates source

categories of race

stem fields women

broad stem fields

total workforce