Broadening Participation in STEM Faculty: A Program to support the Diversity Initiative for Tenure in Economics (DITE)

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

Minorities are seriously under-represented in tenured economics faculty positions in US universities resulting in lack of role models for young under-represented groups. This lack of racial and ethnic diversity hampers the creation of a diversified STEM workforce and also lead to lack of diversity in research topics in economics. Broadening Participation in STEM Faculty: A Program to Support the Diversity Initiative for Tenure in Economics (DITE) is a program to support under-represented junior faculty in economics. The broad goal of the program is to increase the number of faculty from under-represented populations in economics who hold tenured positions in the academy generally. The project will also focus on increasing tenured faculty in economics at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Colleges and Universities (HSCUs). DITE fellows will be mentored by distinguished professors of economics in integrating research projects, establishing a credible research portfolio and publishing and service record that will get them tenured in economic departments. DITE will support a yearly cohort of 15 junior economics faculty over the two-year span of this proposed grant (for a cumulative total of up to 30). DITE fellows who obtain tenure are expected to mentor your economic faculty of color. By helping to diversify the economics faculty in the US, the proposed activity will help to create a diversified STEM workforce and research agenda for the 21st century, thus strengthening the US economy. Broadening Participation in STEM Faculty: Broadening Participation in STEM Faculty: A Program to Support the Diversity Initiative for Tenure in Economics (DITE) is a program to support under-represented junior faculty in the economics profession. The continued gross under-representation of economists from racial minorities and ethnic groups in the ranks of college and university faculty creates an imperative for special efforts to change the STEM field and the academy through increased presence of under-represented groups (URM). Serious under-representation does not only inhibit US?s ability to create a diversified STEM workforce for the 21st century and beyond, it also skews economic research away from issues that may concern to these under-represented groups. Because there are so few URM professors of economics, there is a greater cost to society when any single one of these professors is lost in the tenure pipeline. The DITE curriculum is designed to help URM faculty of economics decode the academy, demystify the promotion and tenure process, and identify, develop, and leverage a research program to a tenure position. The DITE program will therefore benefit the US through a diversified economics faculty and an enhanced research portfolio. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.