Engineering Deans Pledge to Increase Diversity in Students and Faculty

Engineering deans from more than 100 universities in North America who are members of the American Society for Engineering Education signed a letter committing their schools to building more diverse and inclusive programs.

In the letter, the deans said that “while gains have been made in the participation of women, African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans in engineering in recent decades, significant progress is still needed to reach a level where the engineering community fully embraces all segments of our increasingly diverse and vibrant society. In particular, we must further promote the pursuit of engineering education to all those who have been historically under-represented within our discipline; provide an educational experience that is demonstrably equitable and inclusive; and actively work to improve the broader engineering culture to fully engage the diverse generations to come.”

The deans agreed to:

• Develop a diversity plan for our engineering programs with the help and input of national organizations.
• Commit to at least one K-12 or community college pipeline activity with explicit targeted goals and measures of accountability aimed at increasing the diversity and inclusiveness of the engineering student body.
• Commit to developing strong partnerships between research-intensive engineering schools and non-PhD granting engineering schools serving populations underrepresented in engineering.
• Commit to the development and implementation of proactive strategies to increase the representation of women and underrepresented minorities in our faculty.