CDEI April 2021 Update from the Chair
April showers bring May flowers and also COVID-19 vaccinations for many of us. I got my first vaccine earlier this month and am looking forward to my second shot in May.
If you are a delegate to a division, please report back to your division about the Year of Impact on Racial Equity, the new CDEI blog posts, and our wonderful professional development offerings.
The ASEE Year of Impact on Racial Equity starts at the end of the 2021 Annual Conference and will go through the 2022 Annual Conference. The Taskforce work will start promptly after the Annual Conference, with lots of planning during Summer 2021, so please sign up now to get involved:
Thank you to everyone who provided ideas for non-profits in the Long Beach area. In line with our desire to improve justice in that area, we’ve reviewed and selected organizations for which we plan to ask ASEE members to support. We will be in touch with more communication about this in the next month or two.
Bylaws update! At our Executive Committee meeting this month, we discussed the revision of our operating procedures to become Bylaws (Thanks to the Strategic Planning and Assessment committee!). We had a great discussion and multiple important issues were brought up. The Chairs team made some revisions based on that discussion and sent out a new version for an email vote from Standing Members. Of our 13 Standing Members, ten voted to approve the bylaws and three abstained (which passes by the more than 2/3 majority required). We will now be sharing our bylaws with the ASEE Board of Directors for their approval.
One of the issues that was raised as part of the Bylaws review process is that it is still somewhat opaque how to get involved with CDEI either as a Friend, Delegate, or in a leadership role. We tried to clarify this in our bylaws, but we’ve also given ourselves the task of updating the CDEI website to have more readily available information about how to become involved. We want CDEI to feel accessible and inclusive, and we invite you to share your ideas for how to make it more inclusive. Please email me directly or the chairs team at CDEIchairs@asee.org.
Our Awards committee is busy reviewing the ASEE DEI Constituent Award and is beginning review of Best DEI Papers.
Our Communications committee has posted a new Scholar Spotlight on Idalis Villanueva-Alarcón, and we also have a new guest blog post from Jenn Stroud Rossmann about remolding our engineering education world to remove neutrality assumptions and create inclusive educational spaces. Check it and our other guest blogs out!
Our Professional Development committee has been working to create a facilitators guide for our DEI 100 Annual conference session, so that interested individuals can take the curriculum back to their organizations. In addition, there are more Virtual Workshops, and the Work in Progress Feedback Workshop Series (two-part virtual session: 30 minutes of guided networking, and 60 minutes of small groups for feedback on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) related works in progress (WIP).) If you’d like to join the Cultivating Inclusive Communities conversation and large group events, join us here.
Here are our upcoming CDEI meetings which all members (standing members, delegates, and friends) are encouraged to attend. Please add these to your calendar. You’ll find the virtual meeting links posted in our group on the ASEE Hub.
- All Hands CDEI Business Meeting before the Annual Conference: Thursday 6/10/2021 10am-11:30am Pacific/1pm-2:30pm Eastern
- ASEE CDEI Social before the Annual Conference: Thursday 7/22/2021 3pm-4:30pm Pacific/ 6pm-7:30pm Eastern.
Other Announcements:
JOIN US FOR ONLINE SAFE ZONE WORKSHOPS: May 4th and May 11th
Support LGBTQ+ equity and inclusion in STEM: Participate in online Safe Zone Ally Training workshops!
- Level 1 workshops explore LGBTQ+ key terms and concepts and share simple ally strategies. Register for the next Level 1 workshop on May 4th, 2:00 – 3: 30 PM.
- Level 2 workshops explore privilege and bias, the STEM climate for LGBTQ+ individuals, and inclusive classroom strategies. Register for the next Level 2 workshop on May 11th, 2:00 – 3: 30 PM.
Finally, the JEE editor shared this opportunity to provide feedback. We encourage CDEI members to take time to share your thoughts before 4/30.
Journal of Engineering Education Revised Author and Reviewer Guidelines: Seeking Community Input
The Journal of Engineering Education (JEE) is in the process of updating the JEE Author Guidelines and Reviewer Guidelines to increase transparency in the manuscript submission and review processes, and to incorporate aspects of diversity, equity and inclusivity in these guidelines. We are seeking feedback from members of the engineering education research community on the drafts of the updated JEE Author Guidelines and Reviewer Guidelines. If you would like to provide feedback, please click here, which will take you to a questionnaire that includes a link to the revised guidelines. Reading the guidelines and providing feedback through the questionnaire should take approximately 60 minutes to complete. We ask that you provide this feedback by the end of April 2021. Questions? Please contact Lisa Benson, Editor, Journal of Engineering Education.
In Solidarity,
Liz Litzler
CDEI Chair 2020-2021