As an effort to accomplish its mission, the Rutgers University–Camden (RUC) Driving Change community performed a one-year-long self-study on equitable STEM education in our campus. This research was funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Driving Change Initiative as one of 38 finalist institutions across the country dedicated to making lasting cultural change in STEM that promotes an equitable and inclusive training environment. While Rutgers University and it’s Camden campus have initiated well-designed strategic plans that target the community at large, our efforts were focused on STEM since there are unique discipline-specific challenges to promoting the beloved community we seek. Thus, these data are complementary to the larger campus-wide and university-wide efforts for building Beloved Community.

The qualitative research was conducted by the Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs (WRI). The quantitative research was conducted by the RUC Data Equity group. These initial findings represent the first steps of identifying systemic barriers to achieving an equitable and inclusive STEM research and curricular ecosystem at Rutgers Camden. In the coming weeks, we will publish our interpretations of these data to identify specific barriers that can inform our strategic planning to ensure that our students, trainees, staff, and faculty can thrive in STEM. Thus, we share these data to facilitate conversation and obtain feedback.

 

SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDINGS:

  • Lack of STEM-specific DEI efforts reduces a sense of belonging on our campus
  • Faculty assume students without prior STEM exposure are underprepared
  • Curricula and program design do not meet the needs of RUC students
  • Our students face additional invisible barriers to engaging in critical STEM activities
  • Overreliance on traditional pedagogy and course design prevents our student population from thriving
  • University policies disincentivize improving coursework

 

BARRIERS TO SUCCESSFUL ENGAGEMENT IN STEM EDUCATION 

 

BARRIERS TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION IN STEM EDUCATION  

 

PROMOTING SUCCESS IN STEM  

 

 

 

WRI EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Download WRI Executive Summary (PDF)

 

 

WRI FULL REPORT

Download WRI Full Report (PDF)

 

 

NEXT STEPS

The RUCDC community is committed to identifying strategic mechanisms to address the barriers and challenges identified from this self-study, many of which are experienced nationwide at leading institutions and some of which are unique to our campus (e.g., high number of commuting students needing to work off-campus jobs and support family at home.) While we are still digesting these data to understand the fundamental elements and the structures that foster systemic STEM inequity on our campus and nationwide, we felt it important to share these findings more broadly during our planning process. We encourage you to join into the conversation as we discuss these data and identify specific mechanisms at addressing obstacles. We will be holding monthly meetings and biweekly events throughout the upcoming academic year that are designed to analyze these data, develop methods to overcome identified inequities, and promote an inclusive STEM environment.