Howard University ADVANCE-IT: Women of Color Faculty in STEM as Change Agents

Howard University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

Howard University is one of only 48 U.S. private, Doctoral/Research-Extensive universities and one of the premier Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the country. The submission of their institutional transformation proposal comes at a very propitious time in their history as over 50% of their faculty are retiring in the next five years leaving a huge need for STEM hiring that could be truly transformative. Howard has a strong history of advancing Women of Color, especially STEM women, into administrative positions. Their activities center around three goals- broad stakeholder education, changes related to institutional and individual advocacy, and individual empowerment through training and opportunity. Howard University presents NSF with an important opportunity to expand our knowledge of institutional transformation at HBCUs and this proposal is uniquely designed to do this through the national archive on the scholarship of women of color in STEM (e.g., leadership, professional experiences, and accomplishments), their basic data collection and evaluation efforts, and the proposed social science research. The social science research is a strong, theoretically-based, mixed-method approach to understanding women in STEM, and specifically URM women in STEM which should contribute meaningfully to the literature.