NSF's Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Aspire Alliance
University of Wisconsin-Madison Impact
-
The University of Wisconsin-Madison along with five collaborative partners are leading the NSF INCLUDES Aspire Alliance—a 5-year, $10 million NSF-funded effort to diversify STEM faculty and promote more inclusive practices.
-
Aspire engages a growing network of partners to support systemic change in the STEM higher education ecosystem.
NSF's Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Aspire Alliance’s Approach
The Aspire Alliance is pursuing three mutually reinforcing strategic goals—all focused on faculty.
-
Prepare current and future STEM faculty to be more inclusive and effective in their undergraduate teaching, research mentoring, and advising;
-
Diversify the faculty by effectively recruiting, hiring, and retaining underrepresented STEM faculty and transforming practices, policies, and resources to support these efforts; and
-
Foster institutional cultures that recognize and value inclusivity and diversity broadly.
The overarching strategy of the Aspire effort is to affect change by aligning and reinforcing professional development and hiring practices of STEM faculty at institutional, regional, and national levels.
-
Institutional Change: Building communities of practice, both within and across institutions, to address inclusive hiring and retention practices. Institutions are conducting self-assessment exercises and developing action plans within a cohort of institutions. Key programs include: IAspire Leadership Academy; Institutional Change (IChange) Network; and IThrive Collective
-
Regional Change: Building regional networks of 2- and 4-year institutions and the private sector. These groups are focusing on preparing, developing, and on-boarding skilled and diverse faculty in 2-year colleges where many underrepresented students begin higher education. Aspire is supporting 6 Regional Collaboratives; two in California, two in Texas, and one in Florida and Iowa.
-
National Change: Developing resources about inclusive teaching, research mentoring, and advising while partnering with national organizations to promote these inclusive and diverse experiences. Key activities include: Inclusive Professional Framework and Aspire Summer Institute
Together, these efforts are creating a national systemic change environment for STEM faculty.
Aspire National Change
The Aspire National Change initiative develops and provides professional development opportunities based on an Inclusive Professional Framework (IPF). The IPF identifies three core domains - Identity, Intercultural, and Relational - which underlie inclusive professional practices. The IPF provides a set of skills in the three domains that can be applied to inclusive practices across context and roles. These skills also contribute to health and well-being and inclusive climates within institutions and organizations.
Publications
Bantawa, B., Dukes, A., Gillian-Daniel, D. L., Bridgen, S., Dickmann, E., Macias, L., Patton, S., and E. Zernick. (2019) A Guide to Academic Advising for STEM Faculty. NSF INCLUDES Aspire Alliance. Available online at https://www.aspirealliance.org/national-change/national-change-resources/faculty-advising-guide
Dukes, A. A., Gillian-Daniel, D. L., Greenler, R. McC., Parent, R. A., Bridgen, S., Esters, L. T., & El-Sayed, J. (2022) The Aspire Alliance inclusive professional framework for faculty—Implementing inclusive and holistic professional development that transcends multiple faculty roles. In S. Linder, C. Lee, & K. High (Eds.), The Handbook of STEM Faculty Development. Information Age Publishing. Available online at https://www.infoagepub.com/products/Handbook-of-STEM-Faculty-Development
Gillian-Daniel, D. L., Greenler, R. M., Bridgen, S. T., Dukes, A. A. & Hill, L. B. (2021) Inclusion in the Classroom, Lab, and Beyond: Transferable Skills via an Inclusive Professional Framework for Faculty, Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 53:5, 48-55, DOI: 10.1080/00091383.2021.1963158
Gillian-Daniel, D. L., Troxel, W. G., and Bridgen, S. (2021b). Promoting an Equity Mindset through the Inclusive Professional Framework for Faculty. The Department Chair 32 (2), 4–5. doi:10.1002/dch.30408
Knezz, S., Gillian-Daniel, D.L., Calderon, C. I., Dukes, A. A., Greenler, R., & Macias, L. (2022) Improving Gender Diversity in STEM through an Inclusive Professional Framework. In A. CohenMiller, T. Hinton-Smith, F. H. Mazanderani & N. Samuel (Eds.), Leading Change in Gender and Diversity in Higher Education from Margins to Mainstream. Routledge. Available online at: https://www.routledge.com/Leading-change-in-gender-and-diversity-in-international-higher-education/Miller-Hinton-Smith-Samuel-Mazanderani/p/book/9781032261737
Leibnitz GM, Gillian-Daniel DL, Greenler RMcC, Campbell-Montalvo R, Metcalf H, Segarra VA, Peters JW, Patton S, Lucy-Putwen A and Sims EL (2022) The Inclusive Professional Framework for Societies: Changing Mental Models to Promote Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive STEM Systems Change. Front. Sociol. 6:784399. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2021.784399
Leibnitz, G.M., Gillian-Daniel, D.L., & Hill, L.B. (2021). Networking Networks: Leveraging
STEM Professional Society “Boundary Spanners” to Advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. NSF INCLUDES Rapid Community Reports.
To learn more about the NSF INCLUDES Aspire Alliance, visit www.aspirealliance.org.
The NSF INCLUDES Aspire Alliance is cooperatively led by:
 |
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. (1834518, 1834522, 1834510, 1834513, 1834526, 1834521). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
|
