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Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop (2022)

Chapter: 6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard

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Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
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6

Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard

Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
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The second day of the workshop began with four presenters describing innovative programs to promote success for students at their institutions, moderated by Dr. Theodore Corbin (Drexel University). They were Wynter Duncanson, Ph.D. (Boston University), Maureen Cullins, A.M. (Duke University School of Medicine), Byron Ford, Ph.D. (University of California, Riverside School of Medicine), and Craig Sutton, Ph.D. (Dartmouth College).

BOSTON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Dr. Duncanson discussed initiatives at BU’s College of Engineering to reach students from underrepresented groups in Boston and worldwide, and she proposed structures and opportunities when considering pipelines.

She outlined the traditional pipeline from K–12 through a 4-year college degree, graduate school, postdoctoral training, and a faculty position. Looking at that pipeline, Black students are 3 percent of the nation’s engineering faculty. Black students are awarded 1.5 percent of engineering doctoral degrees and 3.9 percent of engineering bachelor’s degrees.

Dr. Duncanson suggested focusing on elementary, middle, and high school to answer the questions of why the number is so low and when students start to lose interest. She noted that the reasons underrepresented

Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×

minorities often give relate to lack of role models, lack of awareness of what engineers do, beliefs that engineering is for white men, and an underlying fear of math and science.

Technology Innovation Scholars Program

The Technology Innovation Scholars Program (TISP) at BU is focused on K–12 outreach. She explained the goals of the program:

We are striving to present engineering careers as viable options by promoting awareness of what engineers do, changing perceptions of who can do engineering, and providing relatable and engaging role models. Ultimately, we are aiming to increase interest in engineering by helping students do engineering, such as exciting engineering projects aligned to curriculum standards.

Current engineering majors are recruited to become “Inspiration Ambassadors” who go to middle and high schools in Boston and around the country to show how engineering can transform lives. She noted that studies have found that Black students are attracted to fields that have societal impacts, which dovetails with BU’s priority to educate “societal engineers.” The ambassadors are in their sophomore to senior years of college. They receive a small stipend ($1,200 annually) and culturally sensitive training. “They are committed to the goal of broadening representation in engineering,” she explained. The 65 ambassadors are now 64 percent women and 36 percent men and represent different fields of engineering. Dr. Duncanson showed an excerpt of a video of a Black woman ambassador who explained her major, shared how she became interested in engineering, and described her pre-college classes and activities. Dr. Duncanson commented, “What I appreciate is that she is real and talks about when she became interested in STEM.”

Innovations in a Box

To help K–12 students actually do engineering, BU students and faculty co-created “Innovations in a Box,” which are interactive hands-on activities coupled with design challenges that span a class period of 45 or 90 minutes. They are based on faculty research. The innovations are used with groups and schools around Boston with high Black and Brown popula-

Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×

tions. Some students have gone on to take tours of BU laboratory facilities. During the pandemic, the program was conducted online and reached more students than previously. They have also expanded to grades 4 through 6 with a Lego Gadgets kit with which students build and code. Students are also exposed to the BU Robotics Laboratory.

To expand the impact, Dr. Duncanson said, the plan is to convert the “innovations” into kits to send into homes. She also urged deeper studies about loss of interest in engineering by Black students to learn what are the controllable factors, what existing policies limit access, and how outreach programs can close the gap.

DUKE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

Ms. Cullins described two programs at Duke University School of Medicine, the Cardea Fellows Program on the undergraduate campus and Duke BioCoRE that works with Ph.D. and basic scientists. She began by noting,

What we have all often heard when we talk about programs dealing with diversity, antiracism, and promoting the well-being of people of color is that the investment of leadership in these programs and the necessity of having good, strong leadership to promote the ethics and values need to be in place for these programs to thrive and continue.

She said the programs have been successful for the past 10 years because they had the investment of the dean, university president, and faculty when they began.

Cardea Fellows Program

The Cardea Fellows Program grew out of a summer program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Two participants of the program suggested that the program run a full year for students who are preparing or committed to a career in health care so that they can master core knowledge in math and science. The program encompasses specialized advising and support and also deals with curriculum and problems that cause students the most difficulty. For example, the math and chemistry departments decelerated some introductory courses to run over two semesters rather

Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×

than one. “We are finding that once we have grounded students in the foundation, they are better able to master the upper-level sciences,” she explained. “By decelerating calculus, they are ready for Physics 101 in a way they were not before.”

When the Cardea Fellows Program started, she related, the campus newspaper labeled it a remedial program and wrote several articles criticizing it and the fellows. “We had to recast how the program was presented to the community and even to the students themselves,” she recalled. To dispel these myths, students now apply to the program and the language about it explicitly says, “Every undergraduate admitted to Duke has demonstrated academic excellence.” It took about 2 years to change the perception to show that the program is set up to prepare students’ paths to achieve.

The program is structured so that students live together, participate in specialized advising and tutoring, meet weekly in a seminar to discuss issues they face, meet regularly with an academic advisor, and explore careers. More broadly, they are in a group of like-minded people with whom they can collaborate. They also have access to summer enrichment programs and receive free textbooks and supplementary resources for many pre-health courses.

In the tutoring program, which is called SAGE (STEM Advancement through Group Engagement), students meet weekly in small groups with trained peer facilitators. The facilitators are trained in academics as well as how to inoculate group members from diverging from their chosen paths. Duke deans and faculty recognize the Cardea Fellows as a premier program for highly motived students with strong interest in STEM learning and medicine. Faculty training of the peer facilitators is one reason for its success.

Duke BioCoRE

Duke BioCoRE began as a National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiative in which a supportive community of graduate students and faculty is built with opportunities for research, mentoring, and career development. Cardea Fellows and other undergraduates can also become part of BioCoRE and participate in longitudinal mentoring, research, and career development. The goal is to increase the diversity of scientists in biosciences. They gain a community across bioscience disciplines and departments, as their specialties can otherwise be lonely at the graduate level. “BioCoRE has impacted retention, happiness, and community engagement,” she said.

Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×

She noted that the program covers diversity related to race, ethnicity, life experiences, religion, low wealth, and disabilities.

Another reason for success is creation of an office in the School of Medicine called IDEALS (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Advancement, and Leadership in the Sciences), led by Assistant Dean Johnna Frierson, Ph.D. IDEALS coordinates BioCoRE and also is engaged throughout the university. IDEALS takes on a large part of the antiracism work going on in the School of Medicine and is helping to apply a systems lens through which Duke creates programs, teaches the sciences, and engages students in their own learning and success.

Ms. Cullins concluded by noting that Duke has pathways programs for students beginning in the third grade on the undergraduate and graduate campuses.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

Dr. Ford shared some programs at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine (UCR SOM) to support the success of Black students. He reported that U.S. News & World Report ranked the school sixth in diversity; he added that this is the first year the magazine published a list of most diverse medical schools, which notes the importance that many institutions have placed on increasing minority access to medical education.

Intentional Diversity

The reason for the high ranking is intentional, he stated. Started in 2013 as a fully accredited medical school, the mission of UCR SOM is to improve the health of the people of California by training a diverse workforce of physicians and developing health-care delivery programs that will improve the health of the medically underserved in the region.

As discussed by Dr. Ford, the state as a whole is 59.5 percent white (36.6 percent non-Hispanic white), 14.7 percent Asian, 5.8 percent Black/ African American. (Other races and Native Americans/Native Hawaiians/ Pacific Islanders account for the rest of the population.) By ethnicity, 39.3 percent of California’s total population is Hispanic-Latino. The medical school is 34 percent underrepresented minorities. A breakdown of UCR SOM’s 299 students by race/ethnicity and gender (see Figure 6-1) shows that 7 percent of the students are Black/African American, which is consis-

Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×

tent with the overall representation in the state’s population. Dr. Ford noted that UCR SOM uses a holistic application review approach that, in addition to academic record, considers resilience, distance traveled, and mission fit. Of 198 medical students graduated so far, 156 have remained in California, including 59 who have remained in the state’s Inland Empire region.

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FIGURE 6-1 University of California, Riverside School of Medicine’s composition by race and ethnic group.
SOURCE: Byron Ford, Workshop Presentation, April 20, 2021.

UCR’s graduate programs also have greater diversity than the national average, Dr. Ford mentioned. Thirty-two percent of the current biomedical sciences graduate program are underrepresented minorities. Consistent with the medical school, about 7 percent are Black/African American and 23 percent are Latinx/Hispanic.

Riverside Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program and the UC-HBCU Initiative Program

Dr. Ford serves as co-principal investigator for the NIH-funded Riverside Bridges to the Baccalaureate (Riverside B2B) Program along with Wolde-Ab Isaac, the chancellor of Riverside City College (RCC). With buy-in from Dr. Isaac and others in RCC’s top leadership, the partnership provides underrepresented students with resources to transition from RCC to research-oriented STEM programs at UCR. “In many cases, students

Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×

graduate with their associate degrees and then join an entirely new environment as juniors and have to connect with a new environment,” he pointed out. UCR leaders and representatives of different pipeline programs visit RCC to make students aware of the resources to which they have access when they transfer. For example, a summer research program brings RCC students to UCR research laboratories. Eleven RCC B2B students recently transferred to UCR through the program, nine of whom (including two Black students now working in SOM labs) are underrepresented minorities. He noted that an informal poll showed that despite the proximity to UCR, RCC students did not necessarily plan to transfer there because they did not feel welcome. All the students in the program have chosen UCR as their top choice.

The UC-HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) initiative is based on data that African Americans made up only 2.8 percent of the students enrolled across all University of California academic doctoral programs between 2010 and 2015. Dr. Ford describe how the UC Office of the President launched the program to improve diversity and strengthen UC graduate programs by investing in strong collaborations between UC faculty and HBCUs. These are active collaborations, not just “coming to an HBCU to harvest students,” Dr. Ford stressed. As part of the initiative, Dr. Ford received a grant entitled Pathways to Biomedical Science and Neuroscience to establish a partnership with Morehouse College, Fort Valley State University, Spelman College, and Morehouse School of Medicine. UC-HBCU students accepted in the UC system receive a fully funded fellowship for 5 years.

Challenges, Barriers, and Solutions

Dr. Ford identified the need for increased local, regional, and national support for diversity programs, especially for universities to create an infrastructure so that faculty can apply for these programs. At the forefront of discussions at UCR is the need to improve recruitment and especially retention of Black faculty. A prioritization of research in health equity and social justice is needed, as is addressing systemic bias and racism in academic institutions. “We’ve started to have those courageous conversations at UCR about how we address this,” he said. Reflecting the suggestion of other presenters, he concluded, “This is the time we should strike while the iron is hot. We should be bold in our asks.”

Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE

Dr. Sutton described the E.E. Just Program at Dartmouth College. Ernest Everett Just was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Dartmouth in 1907 and a pioneering African American cell biologist. Dr. Sutton also considered some broader questions that the program helps raise.

E.E. Just Program

Although the program has existed for several decades, it underwent a new iteration in 2012 to increase the number of underrepresented minorities at Dartmouth who pursue degrees and careers in STEM. The program is built on three core values: (1) mentorship and sponsorship, (2) inclusive community, and (3) intellectual engagement and professional development. “When these values are put into motion, they take the shape of community building through intellectual cross-pollination, and mentorship and opportunity at critical transition points,” Dr. Sutton said.

Community building occurs through three programs open to everyone on campus. E.E. Just Jam Sessions meet weekly for STEM undergraduates and graduates to engage in intellectual improvisations and discover unexpected connections; for example, a short presentation might take place followed by breakout sessions facilitated by E.E. Just Graduate Mentors. The E.E. Just Science Forum brings undergraduate and graduate students together for a short dinner presentation by faculty members, visiting scientists, and E.E. Just Interns and Fellows. They are intended to introduce the community to a variety of ideas at the frontiers of science. The E.E. Just Science Symposium is a weekend-long conference with talks from experts in a myriad of STEM disciplines.

With these programs creating the general atmosphere, the program also has mentorship and opportunities at critical transition points, Dr. Sutton continued. In a previous iteration, students applied for and were selected for a 4-year program, but this model was not the best fit for a liberal arts environment. Instead, the current program with on and off ramps was developed, beginning with Dartmouth Adventures in STEM (DAS). Dr. Sutton described DAS as a weeklong pre-orientation program that introduces students to the frontiers of science through minicourses taught by Dartmouth professors about their research and community-building activities. DAS is designed to foster an intellectually and socially cohesive incoming cohort, not so much skills acquisition as getting students excited

Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×

about STEM. “We found this has had several effects. When students are entering college, there is usually some hesitation about being intellectually vulnerable with one another,” he said. Rather than offering a class in a subject that some students will already have taken, research scientists come in and talk about what they do and, as Dr. Sutton characterized it, “create a state of confusion for everyone.” In this state of confusion, students band together and see each other as collaborators. “It helps lower inhibitions about being intellectually vulnerable and creates a strong cohort of entering students,” Dr. Sutton said.

Another touchpoint in the E.E. Just Program are two internships with faculty, one after students’ first year on campus and the other at the Marine Biological Laboratory at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, where Dr. Just spent part of his career.

The E.E. Just Undergraduate Fellowship Program is modeled after the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program in the humanities.1 Sophomores can receive 2 years of funding to conduct research year-round under the supervision of a faculty member, which is designed to culminate in a senior thesis and prepare them for graduate school. They also participate in professional development.

The final stage is programs for graduate students, Dr. Sutton described. The E.E. Just Liftoff Fellowship is designed for first-year graduate students to receive professional development and form an inclusive community of budding scholars. E.E. Just Graduate Fellows are senior graduate students who mentor undergraduate and first-year graduate members of the community and help facilitate programmatic activities, such as the Jams mentioned above.

Wider Implications

The implications for Dartmouth and other institutions relate to community, mentorship, and curriculum, Dr. Sutton said. Community is very important and has increased the retention rate of STEM students. However, it also raises the question for the academy about what community means and how to cultivate it. “It’s one thing to have a place where underrepresented minorities can go to feel included, but how do we make that the default experience on campus?” he queried.

___________________

1 For information on the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program, see https://www.mmuf.org/.

Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×

Dr. Sutton stressed that a cadre of mentors is needed, but effective mentorship is a skill that must be cultivated by universities, not left to chance. He suggested universities think how they can be more intentional in supporting mentoring and creating a professoriate for the 21st century that adds value to the community and to the traditional research and teaching portfolio, and that should include mentorship.

Related to curriculum, as a mathematician he has observed that math courses often serve as the gatekeeper for students interested in STEM. “Are our introductory sequences disrupting inequities that we already know exist in K–12, or are they reinforcing and perpetuating them?” he asked. He urged the attendees and participants to rethink how to introduce math to students and asked a series of questions: Is calculus the right first course? If so, should it be taught in a different way? Can introductory sequences capture the imagination of students by highlighting current problems while laying out a foundation for future work? He noted when he chaired a committee to look at the math curriculum, he went to different departments to ask how students use math in their disciplines. Many things expressed as a need are not used. He suggested that every concept does not have to be front-loaded in an introductory calculus class, but instead taught when students really need to use it.

DISCUSSION

The programs are remarkable and important, Dr. Corbin reflected. He asked how behavioral and mental health are addressed in them. Dr. Ford replied that UCS SOM realized these aspects of health have to be embedded in all that is done. Figuring out how to operate during COVID-19 and holding town halls during the Black Lives Matter protests showed the importance of health and wellness. Black students felt extremely stressed. It was critical to figure out how to reach out to faculty and students and create community. Ms. Cullins said conversations on these issues are ongoing. Her office found that students need reassurance when the environment is in upheaval, she said. “What helped us was finally getting the chancellor, the president, and the dean together to communicate with the students and make sure resources were available,” she said.

Dr. George Daley (Harvard Medical School) commented about the many references to the importance of community, which goes to the issue of a community’s critical mass to contribute to a sense of belonging. An issue in Boston is that it is not considered a welcoming community, he observed.

Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×

He said Harvard Medical School has tried to “create a community within a community that can create a sense of belonging, but we are challenged.” Dr. Duncanson said that “being the only one” is a problem. They will be the person that all of the Black students go to. One or two Black faculty members are not enough, she stressed, and spaces where people can be together is also important. Dr. Sutton said at the student level, Dartmouth is creating a space on campus to build community across disciplines, which also potentially produces scientists with a more interdisciplinary outlook. At the faculty and staff level, it is difficult for institutions in rural areas like northern New England, he acknowledged. However, he suggested that something that could stem the flow from such locations is when institutions come out unabashedly in favor of “effecting the type of change we are talking about.” Underrepresented minority students typically want to have social impact, as do faculty and staff, Dr. Sutton noted. In his view, influential institutions can have a huge impact if they are fully committed to change. Dr. Daley suggested that cluster hires, now being undertaken at Harvard Medical School and which NIH recently supported in its For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, or FIRST, program, may be an effective way to ensure more faculty of color at an institution. Dr. Ford said a roadblock to community building is an institution’s perception of itself versus what students and others think of it. UCR, he said, considers itself “the diversity school of the UC system,” but students do not always see it as inviting as it sees itself. Important conversations must take place internally, he urged, so perception is consistent with what others see.

A participant asked how the programs prepare students to respond to microaggressions and macroaggressions. Dr. Ford said the first thing is to educate the entire campus, including training the trainers. They may attempt to improve the environment for students of color, but have not themselves necessarily been appropriately trained. UCR SOM has a new thread called the “health, equity, social justice, and anti-racism thread” throughout its 4-year curriculum. The intent is to reinforce that these concepts should be part of medical care, mentoring students, and incorporated in all that physicians do, and not just be “set up as a web-based training course.”

Dr. Duncanson said at the undergraduate level, BU is infusing aspects of diversity and inclusion in all engineering courses to see the consequences of not including all voices and to consider “How can we be more inclusive in the way we engineer?” Ms. Cullins described a longitudinal course at Duke’s School of Medicine that deals with health disparities and aggres-

Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×

sions. Faculty are rotating through an 8-week course entitled “Teach Equity Now” that deals with the history of racism and white supremacy, then discusses how to incorporate the concepts in whatever course they teach or job they perform. She noted that the school’s pipeline programs for younger students now admit cohorts so that they do not go back home as “the only.”

Dr. Daley said the Learning Environment Committee at Harvard Medical School was initially formed to address responses on the school’s graduate questionnaire about mistreatment. They have found that an approach to antiracism training that draws from patient safety training is helpful. Dr. Sutton expressed hope that such training becomes the default way to onboard all faculty and staff and that a citizenship portfolio, in addition to teaching and research portfolios, become a standard consideration in tenure and promotion. He urged being intentional about people needing to recognize implicit bias and have related skills as they progress through the ranks. “How can we move from ‘it would be nice if you did these workshops’ to ‘this is that you need to know in a 21st century university’?” he asked. Dr. Daley noted that the medical community requires continuing medical education, so there could be piggybacking on this system of training and validation by instituting implicit bias and other training.

Dr. Ford said UCR SOM students do not report experiencing aggressions at the school, but there have been some issues at hospitals where they train. They are establishing efforts to strengthen site comparability through faculty development and onboarding. Mentors, both new and veteran, will need to go through training to understand the needs of current students.

As the formal discussion closed, several panelists highlighted their institutions’ work with K–12 schools and the importance of data. Ms. Cullins described a program at Duke called BOOST (Building Opportunities and Overtures in Science and Technology) that starts with students in the fourth grade. They are nominated by their teachers and are on free and reduced lunch. All of the students in BOOST have graduated high school, and 30 to 40 percent have gone on to college. Dr. Duncanson said BU will analyze the impact of outreach on students through the school’s new Racial Data Lab. Dr. Ford underscored the need for data on outcomes. UCR has many pipeline programs, but it is difficult to continue and maintain support for them, especially for the federal government, without outcome data. An infrastructure is needed so that faculty, particularly faculty of color, can do this work but also attend to their own research and careers. Ms. Cullins commented that Duke recently pulled together its pathway programs across the Schools of Medicine and Nursing into one office. A director and

Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×

assistant director were hired, with money to support data collection and analysis. She noted that foundations also want to see data. Grants often do not provide enough funds for evaluation and tracking, she added, and the institution needs to use its own resources to accomplish this.

Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×
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Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×
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Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×
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Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×
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Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×
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Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×
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Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×
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Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×
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Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×
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Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×
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Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
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Page 62
Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
×
Page 63
Suggested Citation:"6 Beyond Finances: Living, Growing, and Thriving in Institutions of Higher Learning as a Standard." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Understanding and Offsetting Financial Barriers for Black Students in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Programs, Partnerships, and Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26576.
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Page 64
Next: 7 Policies, Programs, and Resources »
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The number of Black students in science, engineering, and medicine in the United States has remained disproportionately low over the past several decades. A number of reasons have been identified as contributing to these low numbers, including those related to finances. Financial considerations range from the most immediate - the ability of students to pay for their education and associated costs - to more structural concerns, such as inequities that created and have perpetuated a wealth gap between races and ethnic groups.

On April 19-20, 2021, the Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine organized a virtual public workshop to examine financial barriers for Black students in science, engineering, and medicine, explore existing educational programs to them, and engage stakeholders in conversations about partnerships and policies that span academia, industry, and philanthropy. This publication summarizes the presentation and discussion of the workshop.

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