Planning Grant: Advancing Diversity and Inclusion Through a Collaborative Model for Globalization of Higher Education at an HBCU Land-Grant Institution

Southern University, Baton Rouge LA

Investigators

Abstract

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) provides support to undertake an institutional self-analysis in preparation for a Broadening Participation Research Center. Broadening Participation Research Centers are expected to serve as a national hub for the rigorous study and broad dissemination of the critical pedagogies and culturally sensitive interventions that contribute to the success of HBCUs in educating African American STEM undergraduates. The project at Southern University seeks to investigate identified contributory factors envisioned to support advancing diversity and inclusion through global research engagement as a promising interventional approach with the potential to change the culture of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education for underrepresented minority students. The project seeks to frame a new model for transformative STEM teaching and learning that advances science and societal well-being through the 21st century; enhance the research knowledge base to better understand the multidimensionality of underlying issues affecting STEM workforce disparities; and incorporate research, education, outreach, and knowledge transfer into an integrated learning ecosystem that will inform STEM education practices and interventions. To address this grand challenge, the project's activities and strategies are designed to investigate the viability of global translation in: creating shareable knowledge; educating a new generation of scholars, practitioners, innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders; positively impacting the inclusion of disproportionately represented diverse minorities in the STEM workforce; and developing practical solutions to the most pressing environmental, economic, and social challenges of sustainability. The project will be guided by formative and summative evaluation.