It took year-long reviews, redirections, persistence, and a lot of hard work, but I believed too much in this work to not fight for it. I’m excited to share that our paper is finally out, and I’m very proud of it! I also dream of a world where this type of work becomes unnecessary. But while it is still needed, it needs to be out there.
We interviewed 22 engineering Deans across the U.S. to understand their hiring practices and strategies to recruit and retain underrepresented populations, especially Native faculty. The good news is that the Deans expressed a genuine desire to hire underrepresented faculty, but perhaps we’re still not asking the right questions or looking in the right places.
When underrepresented groups are treated as a single “diversity” category, strategies tend to become overly broad and ineffective. This approach overlooks shared experiences within specific groups and limits institutions’ ability to engage communities in ways that are meaningful and relevant.
➡️ For example, Deans noted an absence of Native candidates in their applicant pools, but at the same time universities (even the ones with high Native population or near tribal land) have been failing to create non extractive relationships with tribal communities.
If you’re interested in DEI practices in our higher education institutions, especially engineering and Native communities, this should be a good read.
Thank you to my coauthors and mentors, Kristen Parrish , Mounir El Asmar and David Grau , to the Native scholars whose work inspired ours, James Lopez and Bryan Brayboy , and to the Frontiers editing team for believing in this work.
This work was conducted during my postdoc at Arizona State University and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) BPE program.
Check out the article here: Frontiers | Institutional failures and missed opportunities: insights from engineering administrators on Native faculty hiring
