Dr. Susan Ely presents "Increasing Engagement with Diversity in Engineering Students"
Pott College: The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Spring Colloquium Series
Increasing Engagement with Diversity in Engineering Students
https://usi.zoom.us/j/96521557196
Numerous studies document the benefit of having a diverse workforce. With an increase in diversity, studies have shown higher levels of teamwork, quality of work and higher levels of productivity in the workplace. However, at the University of Southern Indiana, 40% of students are from the local area and 85% of the students are white. Teaching students to appreciate and pursue diversity is difficult when their course experiences are mainly engaging with people similar to themselves. This study looked the effectiveness of integrating multicultural studies in an engineering class to increase the diversity awareness of engineering students. Additionally, themes related to empathy with socio-cultural barriers were explored to determine which types of barriers were most impactful in students considering diversity in engineering. Information from this seminar may be carried over to other disciplines.