CEILS Monthly Newsletter

Issue #97 | August 14, 2023

CEILS Highlights

Highlights from the Eddie Bernice Johnson NSF INCLUDES Aspire Alliance: Systemic Change for an Inclusive and Diverse Faculty Summit held at UCLA July 19th and 20th

On July 19 and 20th, The Aspire Alliance National Summit was held at UCLA’s Luskin Center. The Summit attendees explored key issues in advancing faculty diversity and inclusion through the sharing of emergent research and promising practices, community dialogue, and intentional network building.

Highlights of the Summit included:

A warm welcome to UCLA by Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt at University of California Los Angeles.

The Keynote Address, "Systemic Change for an Inclusive and Diverse Faculty", by Kecia Thomas, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Psychology at The University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Panel Discussion on Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention of Faculty featuring Román Liera, Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Leadership at Montclair State University, Cynthia Villarreal, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at Northern Arizona University, and Damani White-Lewis, Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania, and moderated by Jessica Bennett, Assistant Vice President for STEM Education at Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.

Closing Plenary by Mitchell Chang, Interim Vice Provost for Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion at UCLA. VP Chang shared preliminary findings from an in-depth study seeking to identify factors impacting the climate of individual departments, distinguishing between those with low diversity and those with higher diversity among their faculty here at UCLA, as part of the Faculty Forward Initiative.

Inspiring round table discussions, workshops, rapid talks, a poster session, and more (including many by our CEILS team members!) (full agenda with descriptions of sessions can be viewed here).

CEILS wants to thank all of our colleagues, near and far, who attended this special event. We look forward to applying all of what we learned to our work here at UCLA and to continue to collaborate with national leaders to advance equity in STEM in higher ed.

RSVP Today for Faculty Workshop on Best Equitable Practices in Teaching: Transitioning to the "Post-Pandemic" Classroom

Tuesday, September 12, 2023 | Hershey Hall, Room 158

9am – 4:30 pm followed by Reception & Poster Session

Sessions will feature faculty and student guest speakers

We are now in the midst of a transition to a “new normal” in what many refer to as the “post-pandemic classroom”. This year, CEILS has put together a series of workshops to help you support your students and yourself through the transition to the new learning environments of the current day. Topics Include:

Centering Community and Inclusivity in our Classrooms from Day 1
Addressing Pandemic Effects on Students’ Academic Progress & Learning
Bite-sized Teaching Options that Support Learning and Your Wellness
Time Saving Strategies For You and Your TAs

Plus breakout sessions, reception with a poster session, and resource sharing. View our agenda here: September 2023 Agenda

About the Faculty Workshop: This annual, all-day faculty workshop addresses select topics in science and math education. This workshop is appropriate for everyone—new or veteran teachers—interested in learning more about equitable teaching practices based on education research. We especially encourage instructors who either are relatively new to college teaching or who have instructional responsibilities in large enrollment gateway courses for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) majors. Topics include effective course design as well as student-centered teaching strategies that incorporate active learning and create equitable and inclusive classroom environments. Many of the instructional techniques focus on facilitating peer learning and other collaborative and group activities designed to support student success in large enrollment classes. The format and emphasis of this day-long event has been modified from previous years, so even if you have participated in this workshop before, you might consider attending again and learning something new!

Upcoming Events

See what's happening this month here!

Featured Resources & Articles

Abstract

For many students, introductory college science courses are often the only opportunity in their formal higher education to be exposed to science, shaping their view of the subject, their scientific literacy, and their attitudes towards their own ability in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). While science writing instruction has been demonstrated to impact attitudes and outlooks of STEM majors in their coursework, this instructional strategy has yet to be explored for non-majors. In this work, we investigate student attitudes towards STEM before and after taking a writing-intensive introductory astronomy course. We find that students cite writing about science as beneficial to their learning, deepening their understanding of science topics and their perspective on science as a field and finding writing to be a “bridge” between STEM content and their focus on humanities in their majors. Students also report increased perceptions of their own ability and confidence in engaging with STEM across multiple metrics, leaving the course more prepared to be informed, engaged, and science literate citizens. This case study illustrates that writing pedagogy may be a promising technique for further investigation.

Please also check out these two articles:

Campus Partner Announcements

For the latest and upcoming CAT events, please visit the link here.

Professional Development

November 3, 2023: “Post-Pandemic Engagement Reset: Reinvigorating Relationships and Systems of Support", the LAANE (Learning Assistance Associate of New England) Conference

The keynote speaker for the conference is Dr. Jillian Kinzie, Associate Director at the Center for Postsecondary Research and the National Survey of Student Engagement Institute at Indiana University Bloomington School of Education. Her new book was recently published and titled “Radical Reimagining for Student Success in Higher Education.” The call for proposals is now open: Call for Proposals. The submission deadline in 8/25/23.

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of the POD Network invites you to apply and/or share with colleagues and graduate students this exciting opportunity to receive financial and mentoring support to attend this year’s POD conference (in-person in Pittsburgh or online):

Donald H.Wulff Diversity Travel Fellowships call for applications

Wulff Fellowships provide a one-year POD membership, conference registration fees, and (for recipients attending the in-person conference) financial support for travel to Pittsburgh.
In addition to conference attendance, the Wulff Fellowship supports peer networking and mentorship among Fellows throughout the fellowship year (2023–2024).

Applications are due Friday, August 18, at 11:59pm PDT. See the call for details, eligibility, and resources for crafting a successful application, or apply here.

8th annual SABER West conference

"Building Bridges for Equity in STEM"

University of California, Irvine | January 13 - 14, 2024

This year’s meeting theme of “Building Bridges for Equity in STEM” will highlight the numerous transitions facing students today (2 to 4-yr, remote to in-person instruction, and student development as scientists, among others).

The call for both workshop and short talk abstracts opened on July 14th. The abstract submission deadline will be September 1.

If you are interested in serving as a reviewer, please fill out this form. First time abstract reviewers are welcome. If you would like to complete an abstract review with a more experienced partner over Zoom, check the box on the application and they will try to provide a review mentor.

ITLC Lilly Conference: "Teaching for Active & Engaged Learning"

San Diego, CA | January 4-6, 2024

The Call for proposals closes September 30, 2023. For registration and more information, please visit the link here.

Register today for the 48th Annual POD Network Conference

November 14 – 17, Online | November 16 – 19

Pittsburgh David L. Lawrence Convention Center

Job Opportunities

For the most current job openings, please visit our page here .

Stay Connected

For more information about CEILS events and resources, including a list of STEM education events from previous mailers, please visit the CEILS website at ceils.ucla.edu or stop by our CEILS office in 222 Hershey Hall. If you wish to be added to the CEILS mailing list for future newsletters and special announcements, please send your request to media@ceils.ucla.edu.

Please note, this monthly newsletter is circulated through many departmental listservs. Most other CEILS correspondence, including special event announcements and reminders, are sent to CEILS mailing list recipients only. If you have questions or have difficulty reading this newsletter, please email us at media@ceils.ucla.edu.