Meeting Abstract
Private and public policies are increasingly aimed at broadening participation of a diverse body of students in higher education, and STEM in particular. As colleges and universities increase compositional diversity, they must also ensure that they cultivate intellectual and social environments where all students have the opportunity to achieve academic success. Positive classroom climates and teaching practices can improve academic and emotional development, as well as persistence, among diverse college students interested STEM fields. However, there is a paucity of meaningful faculty professional development surrounding our personal roles in creating inclusive classrooms. We designed a workshop for graduate students, postdocs, and faculty focused on inclusive excellence in the STEM classroom. The focus of the workshop was on faculty privilege, implicit bias, and cues for stereotype threat that we all bring to the classroom. The workshop included activities related to examining our own privileges and unconscious biases as instructors, and how they may influence our course design and interactions with students. We also presented data regarding stereotype threat interventions, growth mindset, and other approaches that increase student performance and retention in the sciences. Finally, we provided time for participants to engage in guided group work to brainstorm changes related to their course design (e.g. office hours, grading criteria, number/types of assignments) and classroom culture (e.g. nature of in-class activities and student-student interactions). The workshop was interactive and participants left with implementable strategies and increased awareness of their responsibilities as instructors. We feel that this workshop could serve the needs of many STEM departments and career development programs for faculty seeking to broaden participation in their fields.
