Diversity and inclusion in engineering: A collaboration with the students

Abstract

At Santa Clara University (SCU), we have had several programs and efforts in place to increase diversity in the school of engineering. We have offered summer programs for underrepresented students to encourage them to consider engineering. We offer day programs for local high school students and have several outreach efforts in the local community. These efforts are not aimed at recruiting to SCU, but at recruiting for the engineering disciplines at large. We cannot measure the impact of these programs accurately, as we do not have sufficient contact with the participants once the programs finish. We also have very active and well-supported student groups at SCU for underrepresented students, such as SWE, SHPE and NSBE. However, we have been made aware that we need to do more to foster an inclusive environment for our underrepresented students This awareness came from the students themselves who ran a student forum on diversity and inclusion in the School of Engineering (SOE). They were unaware of any efforts we had in place, and thus assumed none existed. In addition to being more public about our efforts, we wanted to know about their experience. The students ran a student forum on diversity and inclusion in the school of engineering, and wrote a report about the climate in the SOE that was both enlightening and alarming. Based on the forum and the report we have developed a partnership between the administration and students to improve the climate for diverse students in the SOE. This paper focuses on the recommendations of the students and the school's response to the recommendations.