Navigating the Legal and Higher Education Landscapes to Foster and Sustain

American Association For The Advancement Of Science, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

AAAS will conduct a one-year project that builds on over five years of work exploring how federal and state law and policy impact the operation of programs designed to support underrepresented faculty and students on university campuses. Intellectual Merit. Having undertaken the work of identifying worthy and legally defensible initiatives, there is additional intrinsic intellectual merit in making this guidance relevant to a broader array of institutions and situations where legal precedent may apply differently. AAAS will reach various segments of higher education through two workshops?in partnership with five endorsing higher education organizations. These technical assistance workshops will bridge federal law to institutional practice for general counsels, academic leaders, and program administrators. Broader Impacts. The project focus is how to strengthen the U.S. STEM work force by increasing participation by disadvantaged and underrepresented groups in STEM education and careers. Different bodies of law apply to faculty search, hiring, and advancement (in the workplace) and to student access, support, and success. The project addresses both, with real examples of programs and practices that are research and evaluation-based. Supplementary materials on, e.g., community colleges plus in-depth legal analysis and program guidelines created in the previous phase of the project, will also be produced. The NSF performer community, and higher education institutions more generally, are the targeted audience for these media.