Broadening Participation in Engineering Initiatives

We are committed to taking real action to broaden participation of all people in engineering, and to ensuring that our faculty, students and staff are heard and that the composition of our College community mirrors that of the greater community. To that end, we have implemented several initiatives:

1. We established a permanent committee on broadening participation in engineering in the College which is addressing a list of initiatives regarding issues related to building a sense of belonging within a diverse college.
2. We will conduct periodic climate checks with our student organizations including, but not limited to, the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers, and the Society of Women Engineers.
3. We established an ombudsman’s office for engineering undergraduates to provide an alternative and confidential avenue for students to raise any problems they may be having, particularly associated with differential treatment based on identity.
4. We established a permanent committee on diversity hiring to increase the heterogeneity of the faculty. The committee has actively pursued faculty candidates and has increased the number of faculty members from groups that are under-represented in engineering since its creation.
5. We host speakers on issues and best practices related to broadening participation in engineering and include these presentations as part of our ongoing virtual seminar series.
6. We continue to focus some of our efforts on recruiting students from high schools that have high proportions of students who are under-represented in engineering and are working with the UTA Office of Enrollment Management to coordinate scholarship opportunities.