Diversity, equity and inclusion

Beginning in Summer 2020 and working over a period of 24 months, a committee of students, staff, and faculty members in the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering (AOE) worked to develop a strategic plan for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the department. The aim of this strategic plan is to serve the following departmental DEI mission:

• To actively establish and foster an inclusive and equitable community for our faculty, staff, and students.
• To recruit and graduate a high quality and diverse student body.
• To recruit and retain high quality and diverse faculty and staff.
  

In order to develop an informed strategy, the AOE DEI Committee established five subcommittees in the 2021-22 academic year to collect internal and external information related to the AOE Department’s needs with regard to DEI. Internal information gathering focused on collecting objective, quantitative data about historical trends and subjective opinion data about the department’s current state. External information gathering focused on surveying similar DEI efforts in other academic and professional organizations within and outside Virginia Tech.

More specifically, these five subcommittees were tasked with:
1. Creating and administering surveys
2. Planning focus groups with moderated discussions
3. Reviewing DEI goals and strategies established by other organizations
4. Gathering diversity data concerning undergraduate and graduate AOE students
5. Supporting engagement and education about DEI issues

Each subcommittee presented the results of its efforts in the context of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) along with goals and corresponding actions to support the mission stated above. More than 60 actions were identified, along with preliminary budget considerations and metrics.

In reviewing the outcomes, the committee prioritized the following goals:
1.     Provide transparent, open, and communicative DEI environment in AOE.
2.     Increase representation of underrepresented groups among faculty, staff, and students.
3.     Increase faculty/staff/student sensitivity to DEI in relation to the classroom.

For the 2022-23 academic year, the AOE DEI Committee has reorganized into three subcommittees, each devoted to one of the three goals listed above. In addressing the goals above, these subcommittees will pursue an abridged list of actions that were identified through by the committee with additional input from AOE department stakeholders.

Since 1992, the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity (CEED) has provided encouragement and support to engineering students, focusing on the under-represented population.  AOE faculty are active in CEED summer camps and STEM initiatives such as BLAST, C-Tech² or TechGirls, and through outreach to local high schools in the area.

Learn more at the CEED website at how Virginia Tech is building diversity in Engineering.

Student Organizations at VT

• National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)
• Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)
• Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE)
• Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
• Society of Women in Aviation and Space Exploration (SWASE)
• Aerospace Minority Program
• Council for the Advancement of Minority Engineering Organizations (CAMEO)
• Full listing of VT student organizations

National Organizations

• American Indian Science & Engineering Society (AISIES)
• BlackEngineer.com
• National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME)
• National Association of Minority Engineering Program Administrators (NAMEPA)
• National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)
• Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE)
• Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)
• Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
• Women in Engineering Programs and Advocates Network (WEPAN)

DEI Initiatives within Professional Societies

• American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
• American Physical Society (APS)
• 50K Coalition: 50,000 Diverse Engineers Graduating Annually by 2025

This list was compiled by members of the AOE community.  If you have any other resources you would like to share, please submit your ideas to jamagreen@vt.edu.  

• Dog Whistle Politics, by Ian Haney-López 
• Waking Up White, by Debby Irving 
• The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin
• My Grandmother’s Hands, by Resmaa Menakam 
• Diversity at Work: The Practice of Inclusion, by Bernardo Ferdman 
• Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates 
• Inclusion: Diversity, The New Workplace & The Will to Change, by Jennifer Brown 
• Democracy in Black, by Eddy Glaude, Jr. 
• White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White, by Frank H. Wu
• Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum 
• White Rage, by Carol Anderson
• How Racism Takes Place, by George Lipsitz 
• White Like Me, by Tim Wise 
• Evicted, by Matthew Desmond 
• Diversity at Work: The Practice of Inclusion, by Bernardo Ferdman 
• Whistling Vivaldi, by Claude M. Steele 
• The Difference, by Scott Page 
• We Can’t Talk About that at Work, by Mary-Frances Winters 
• How to Be and Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi 
• I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, by Austin Channing Brown 
• So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo 
• Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, by Mahzarin R Banaji 
• Crucial Accountability: Tools for Resolving Violated Expectations, Broken Commitments, and Bad Behavior, by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, David Maxfield 

Pronouns and Why They Matter

Review the University Policy on Religious Observances

The Pre-College Initiative (PCI) program was implemented to inspire interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

The goals is to encourage youth in K-12 to attend college and pursue technical degrees. Working with the National Society of Black Engineers, the department participated this Fall in a program to assist students in discovering how engineering and technology relates to the world around them.