I Don

1
I Dont Know what to call this Talk

• Colorizing and feminizing physics?

2
What Ill Say

• Current status of women and minorities
• Why should we care
• Strategies at the faculty level
• Strategies at the student level
• Partnerships
• Recap

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Current Status
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Current Status
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Current Status
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Why Should We Care
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Why Should We Care
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Why Should We Care
9
Why Should We Care

• Population trends are mirrored by trends of those
  in some sort of educational track
• However, these trends are in no way matched in
  physics
• If we agree that this needs to be corrected, how
  can we do it?

10
Fixing the Faculty

• The Search Committee
• Establish specific criteria that assesses the
  ability of the applicant to contribute to the
  diversity of the departmentintellectually as
  well as in terms of underrepresented groups
• For example, in the teaching and research
  statements, ask for how the candidate will
  address issues of diversity
• Have a discussion on what indicators of a
  candidates interest in diversity might look like
• Ethnicity and gender
• Membership in minority organizations
• History of involvement
• Reference to sources
• The committee itself should be diverse

11
Fixing the Faculty

• Make the search proactive
• Consult faculty of color and female faculty in
  the department, or allied departments and
  programs
• Utilize persontoperson networks
• Personally call potential candidates
• Use national and regional professional minority
  science societies (SACNAS, NSHP, NSBP)
• Utilize faculty of color Ph.D. directories.
  Candidates may not have Physics Ph.D., but
  related field.
• Contact directly (not just fliers) HBCUs,
  Minority Serving Institutions, and Tribal
  Colleges.

12
Fixing the Faculty

• Evaluation of Candidates
• Review the position announcement, identify
  primary job competencies.
• Discuss a rubric for evaluating candidates.
• Actually apply the criteria, employ a very easy
  to use system. For example, exceeds, meets, does
  not meet scale.
• Do not change criteria when discussing who to
  offer position to.

13
Student Diversity

• Determine if you want and can recruit women and
  underrepresented students to your program.
• If answer is no, doze off until last slide.
• If answer is yes, then realize that you cannot be
  reactive. You must be proactive in your efforts.

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Student Diversity

• Steps to Successful Recruiting of these
  populations.
• Before recruiting
• Realize that numbers are going to be pretty
  small.
• The best students are being heavily recruited,
  you may not be able to compete for these
  students.
• Need a faculty that is diverse.
• Implement cultural changes in the department that
  make it more open and welcoming.

15
Student Diversity

• Recruiting
• Women and minorities, on average, are much more
  people oriented. You have to go out and meet
  these students.
• You must go to where they are.
• Area high schools
• Community Colleges
• Community centers
• Churches
• Homes
• You must talk to the parents and understand the
  important role that the family plays in many of
  these students.
• There is no way around it, you must have some
  financial incentives

16
Student Diversity

• Recruiting
• Realize that physics (or any science) as a career
  is not well known in many of these communities.
• More than just statistics are needed, you need to
  describe what is exciting about physics.
• Your personal story may be the biggest selling
  point.
• Your department cannot do this in isolation, but
  it also cannot be done as part of a university
  wide effort alone.
• Divisional recruitment recruit students for the
  sciences in general.
• Summer bridge programs.

17
Student Diversity

• A word about retention
• Recruitment of women and minorities is wasted if
  at the same time, retention is not addressed.
• Students must feel connected to the department
• Do not rely on university wide retention offices,
  such as those sponsored by Office of Minority
  Affairs. Efforts must be localized within the
  division or department
• Retention efforts must begin from day 1.

18
Partnerships

• The best way to recruit and retain faculty and
  students from underrepresented groups is through
  real partnerships.
• High schools
• Twoyear schools
• Minority professional associations
• Other sciences and math departments within
  university.
• Other university units, such as Career Center and
  Financial aid
• Other universities

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Partnerships

• What do I mean by real.
• Partners must be involved in all aspects.
• Planning of projects
• Executing of plans
• Responsibility for success
• Rewards.
• Paper partnerships will not work.

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Partnerships

• The primary purpose of the partnership is to
  increase diversity of the community. Lets look
  at some examples.

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Partnerships

• University of Arizona Math Department.
• PURPOSE To create a meaningful partnership with
  local school districts and the area community
  college.
• Provide teachers with intensive period of
  professional development.
• University benefits from the wealth of teaching
  experience they bring.

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Partnerships

• HOW IT WORKS
• School district/community college enter into an
  intergovernmental agreement.
• Participants remain school district/community
  college employees with full salary and benefits
  while at the University.
• University pays the cost of replacement teacher.
• While at the university
• Participants take courses
• Participate in math instruction colloquium and
  math education research.
• Interact with department faculty
• Teach introductory courses

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Partnerships

• Vanderbilt/Fisk Program.
• PURPOSE Increase the number of Ph.D. from
  underrepresented groups by creating a Master-to
  Ph.D. bridge with HBCU, Fisk University.
• Not a back door, students must satisfy same PhD
  requirements as all PhD students
• Focus is on facilitating successful mentor/mentee
  relationships

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Partnerships

• HOW IT WORKS
• Students earn a Masters degree at Fisk, with full
  funding support
• Program is individualized to the needs of each
  students, courses are selected to address any
  gaps in undergraduate preparation.
• Research experience provided for all students
• Fast-track admission into one of Vanderbilt
  participating PhD programs
• Joint faculty appointments, advising committees,
  social networks.

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Partnerships

• DePaul CIRRUS program
• PURPOSE Increase the number of science graduates
  from DePaul and transfer to DePaul from the City
  Colleges.
• Summer research program for students from City
  Colleges and DePaul
• Summer internship program with partner
  institutions. Argonne, Lincoln Park Zoo, Field
  Museum, Art Institute
• Academic year service and outreach activities
• Clearinghouse for REUs, internships, financial
  aid, etc.
• Dual-Admission

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Partnerships

• HOW IT WORKS
• Students from City Colleges and DePaul apply for
  summer research program.
• Selection is made by all partner institutions
• Year 1 Students do a summer research program at
  DePaul (Research 101) in either Physics,
  Chemistry, or Biology
• Residence provided by DePaul
• Year 2 Students do research at partner research
  institutions. Salary is negotiated with partner
  institutions.
• Academic year activities rotate among
  institutions. Students from all the institutions
  are required to attend

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Partnerships

• Characteristics
• Real partnerships
• Partnerships are with institutions that have
  large populations of underrepresented students.
• Partnerships involve multiple departments or
  multiple institutions
• They all cost money, but many of these ideas can
  be implemented without high costs

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Recap

• For Faculty recruitment.
• If diversity is important, then it must be
  written into criteria.
• Selection committee should be diverse.
• Discussion on what indicators of diversity might
  look like on the application.
• Search should be proactive and tap into many
  sources to seek out candidates.
• Stick to criteria

29
Recap

• For Student Recruitment
• Go to them, dont expect them to come to you.
• Be proactive.
• Establish a culture in your department that is
  open and welcoming.
• Understand the culture you are trying to recruit,
  personal stories as opposed to facts.
• Team up with other natural science and math
  departments

30
Recap

• Partnerships are perhaps best way to do
  accomplish diversity goals.
• Establish strong connections to minority
  professional societies (SACNAS, NSHP, NSBP,
  SHPE)
• Before I thank SPIN-UP for inviting me, I must be
  critical of APS for not leading the charge on
  this issue.
• Thanks SPIN-UP, especially you Ruth.