Tailoring DEIA Programming through Current Field Analysis: Promoting Allyship in STEM of University Graduate Students

Abstract Promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives by most higher education institutions across the United States has been shown to cultivate environments more welcoming to students from historically marginalized backgrounds or underrepresented groups [1-2]. Within the literature, strategies to increase allyship within Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) are dominated by studies pertaining to male and female identities [3-7]; however, there are many demographics that are underrepresented within STEM that need to be addressed through targeted educational initiatives: these include, but are not limited to, age, sexuality, marital status, physical and cognitive disabilities, parental status – to include pregnancy, religion, nationality, race, ethnicity, and citizenship status [8-15]. To implement an effective program for graduate students aimed to commence and expand skills to be a lifelong ally for minorities in STEM, training needs to be intersectional in its development and execution need to be accessible and applicable to the current academic and industrial landscape [16-19]. Our team of STEM graduate students has been continually developing and improving our program aimed to promote allyship through annual workshops since its formation in 2019. Determining workshop programing has matured from choosing topics of interest of members planning program events, to researching the allyship needs throughout the university community and beyond. Our methodology for determining the current climate STEM graduate students from our institution are facing is through a survey designed to capture personal experiences with inclusivity and discrimination. The survey is distributed to not only students and faculty from our institution, but to other higher learning institutions, those employed in the STEM field within industry, and those who do not identify as being within the STEM community. The aim is to identify the atmosphere STEM graduate students currently face and what environment they will potentially enter upon completion of their degrees. Furthermore, our team will identify areas of discrimination that have the greatest impact on individual feelings of inclusivity and STEM retention curtailment. This paper will describe the process of our team developing our program's events since its inception and our findings on which areas of allyship are most critical today. [1] T. Cumming, M. D. Miller, and I. Leshchinskaya, "DEI Institutionalization: Measuring Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Postsecondary Education," Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 31–38, Jan. 2023, doi: 10.1080/00091383.2023.2151802. 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[Online]. Available: https://www.uvic.ca/coop/_assets/docs/partnerships-dei-lit-review.pdf [14] A. Ricci, F. Crivellaro, and D. Bolzani, "Perceived Employability of Highly Skilled Migrant Women in STEM: Insights from Labor Market Intermediaries' Professionals," Administrative Sciences, vol. 11, no. 1, p. 7, Jan. 2021, doi: 10.3390/admsci11010007. [15] J. Roberts and H. Shinn, "Diversity in STEM - Bibliography," 2018, doi: 10.25923/BK7R-3M38. [16] C. Miller Dyce and A. Owusu-Ansah, "Yes, We Are Still Talking About Diversity: Diversity Education as a Catalyst for Transformative, Culturally Relevant, and Reflective Preservice Teacher Practices," Journal of Transformative Education, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 327–354, Oct. 2016, doi: 10.1177/1541344616650750. [17] R. Pinkett, Data-driven DEI: the tools and metrics you need to measure, analyze, and improve diversity, equity, and inclusion, First edition. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2023. [18] R. Ramiah, L. Godinho, and C. Wilson, "Tertiary STEM for All: Enabling Student Success Through Teaching for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in STEM," IJISME, vol. 30, no. 3, Aug. 2022, doi: 10.30722/IJISME.30.03.003. [19] T. E. Watson, "An Exploration of Women of Color Navigating Intersectionality in STEM Programs," Doctor of Education in Higher Education Leadership, Trident University, Chandler, Arizona, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.proquest.com/openview/2f3ddba01a6af2a75be7f0b618badaad/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y

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