Perceptions of treatment for underrepresented minority faculty in engineering

In this Work In Progress paper, we describe an NSF-funded research project designed to enhance the presence, socialization, retention and advancement of junior and mid-career university faculty from underrepresented minorities (URM) (i.e., African American, Native American, Pacific Islander and Hispanic Faculty) in engineering disciplines. The understanding behind this project is that to increase and sustain diversity in engineering, there is first and foremost, a fundamental need to increase diversity in faculty and enhance their career development; therefore, this project is developing and implementing a holistic array of career development initiatives for URM faculty. Although important conversations about race, inclusion and diversity are at the forefront of academic institutions around the country, preliminary results suggest that many of the circumstances that are potential barriers to URM faculty development still persist. Through this project, we are working to continue moving these conversations toward purposeful and deliberate actions and to research and analyze these perceived barriers to inform academic institutions, as well as interested constituents, of realities URM faculty face. This work-in-progress project is in the first year of the five years projected and it will continue to elaborate on a mixed method approach to answering the research questions while offering a yearly workshop that also integrates more than a decade of first-hand experience with the NSF Minority Development Workshop (MFDW).