Pre-Conference Workshops
Sunday, February 25, 2024
stEm PEER Workshop | 10:00am-1:00pm (by invitation only - Lunch Provided)
Engineering PLUS, a NSF Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Alliance, invites stEm PEER Academy Fellows to a Sunday morning in-person convening & lunch to kick off CoNECD 2024! Fellows can expect to meet other Fellows and the stEm PEER Academy leadership team to engage in small and large group conversations about their efforts to increase the number of women & BIPOC engineering graduates at their own institutions. Fellows will also be invited to contribute ideas for upcoming Academy learning community activities and for recruiting future applicants.
Jen Love and Claire Duggan
By the end of this workshop, participants will have gained a comprehensive understanding of the CAREER project, become acquainted with the Situational Judgement Inventory, and made a meaningful impact by actively engaging in the refinement process.
Both speakers have backgrounds in engineering and teaching engineering courses and are actively involved in engineering education research. Additionally, they have over 65 cumulative years of experience in the engineering education space.
The organizers are the leaders of the NSF-funded AccessADVANCE project. The goal of AccessADVANCE is to increase the participation and advancement of people with disabilities in academic science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers through an intersectional approach. AccessADVANCE serves to increase understanding of the issues related to accessibility and identify promising practices that systematically address issues impacting the career advancement and success of faculty with disabilities. The organizers have published and spoken in a variety of settings on these topics.
Dr. Gwen Lee-Thomas has conducted more than 120 evaluations for more than $125 million in funding for over 25 years. She has led community-based grassroots health-advocacy organizations, 2- and 4-year colleges and universities, and government organizations. Her evaluation work has been published multiple times in various publications by her clients and has even won an NPR award for minority women in STEM. Gwen has worked directly with college and university presidents, served as a reviewer for accreditation, and has evaluated projects for DOJ, DOD, NSF, DOE, and Dept. of Education. Gwen has a PhD in Education Administration and a Master's degree in curriculum and instruction.
Mary Combs earned a Bachelor's and Master's degree in occupational and technical studies, and has worked with engineering faculty for more than 10 years. After joining Quality Measures, LLC in June 2022, she has led several evaluation projects from start to finish (plan to report) and engages extensively with QM clients for projects she has been assigned.
The speakers/workshop facilitators are the members of NCWIT’s higher education research team, who are all faculty research associates at the University of Colorado Boulder. The research team members are experienced social scientists holding doctoral degrees from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. They have expertise and decades of experience in higher education research, organizational change research, program implementation, and evaluation. The team conducts original research and develops instructional guides, tools, and resources that inform NCWIT’s Higher Education Alliance and the general public about issues and practical, research-based solutions for broadening the meaningful and influential participation of intersectionally diverse women and other underrepresented groups in computing.
Jamie L. Huber Ward, Christopher L. Hovey, S. Kiersten Ferguson, Sarayu Sundar, and Sherri L. Sanders
Redesigning grading systems to support student learning and success, improve equitable outcomes, and enhance the instructor/student relationship.
Activating and supporting trailblazing students in their transition to leadership roles in industry and academia through a systemized, engineering-based approach.