SoE Reads Meeting #1

Anna Marie LaChance, Graduate Student, CBEJennifer Pascal, Associate Department Head, CBE

Dianna Hyland, Administrative Services Specialist III

Introductions (10 min)

● Name ● Pronouns ● Position ● Department

In breakout rooms (5 min.), discuss the following:

(1) What are one or more ways in which you’ve had unearned disadvantage in your life?

(2) What are one or more ways in which you’ve had unearned advantage in your life?

(3) In what ways might these experiences impact your daily interactions?

Debrief and report back.

McIntosh, Peggy. "White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack." (1988).https://nationalseedproject.org/Key-SEED-Texts/white-privilege-unpacking-the-invisible-knapsackhttp://www.urbanconsulate.com/courageousconversations/blog/knapsack

Racism and Engineering

(10 min)

Racism and EngineeringAnna Marie LaChance, Graduate Student, CBE

Jennifer Pascal, Associate Department Head, CBE Dianna Hyland, Administrative Services Specialist III

Racism without RacistsIndividual Racism vs Systemic Racism

● Racist: one who is supporting a racist policy through their actions or inaction or expressing a racist idea

● Racism: a powerful collection of racist policies that lead to inequity between racialized ethnic groups and are substantiated by racist ideas about racialized ethnic groups

○ can lead to such issues as discrimination in criminal justice, employment, housing, health care, political power, and education, among other issues

Racism without RacistsAnti-racist topics that intersect with engineering:

● The school-to-prison pipeline ● Employment discrimination ● Housing discrimination ● Environmental justice ● Health care access ● Political power ● ...and so many more.

What has been the takeaway from all our anti-racist readings to far?

● Racism is about power ● Power is about hierarchies

○ There are hierarchies in this room right now!!

Does Improved Technology Always Mean Progress? ● Spirometer● Genetics research ● Biometric Data ● Artificial Intelligence

Barriers to AccessQ: What are the barriers in engineering education? How about engineering research?

Barriers to Education

● Cost: can prospective students pay application fees, tuition, travel, etc.?

● Housing: can your students afford to live on-campus? Off-campus?

● Health care: can your students take care of themselves? Of their mental health? Of their families?

● Employment: are your students confident they’ll be hired once they graduate?

Barriers to Access

Goldschneider, B., & Pitterson, N. P., & Case, J. M. (2020, June), Disciplinary Socialization in First-year STEM Students. Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . https://peer.asee.org/34468

Activity (5 min) How many of these did you have? How many do you think your

students have?

“What It Takes”● This attitude embodies the Myth of Meritocracy: the argument that achieving upward

social mobility is possible through one's own merits regardless of one's social position ○ This is not widely attainable in capitalist societies because of interlocking systems of oppression

Racism within the UConn School of Engineering

https://www.instagram.com/bipoc.at.uconnsoe/

What Engineering Could Be (3 Frameworks) ● Anti-Racist / Liberative Feminist

○ Who benefits from engineering? Who does not? ○ Who bears the costs of engineering? Who does not?

● Feminist Technology Studies ○ What populations benefit from engineers’ solutions, and what populations are overlooked? ○ Why are these populations overlooked, and what populations bear unintended consequences

or penalties of engineering solutions?

● Ethics of Care ○ What are engineers’ capacities for art and creativity? ○ What are engineers’ capacities for empathy? ○ What are engineers’ capacities for care? ○ What is the role of social workers, activists, sociologists, feminist and anti-racist scholars,

political scientists, and community members in “engineering” work?

Riley, Donna & Pawley, Alice & Tucker, Jessica & Catalano, George. (2009). Feminisms in Engineering Education: Transformative Possibilities. 21. 10.1353/nwsa.0.0076.

What You Can Do Now (A Very Incomplete List) ● Commit yourself to anti-racist work and self-reflection. ● Attend more EDOC events!! edoc.engr.uconn.edu/building-anti-racist-communities/ ● Faculty

○ Consider active learning methods and inclusive syllabus design for your classrooms ○ Consider how your research contributes to systems that could be harmful ○ Bring up what you did in this group at your next faculty meeting, encourage others to join

● Staff○ Read up on the school-to-prison pipeline, racism in social work, and other issues that affect how your Black

students move throughout a predominantly-white institution (PWI) ○ Acknowledge that your Black students are going through a lot right now; let this inform how you talk about

classes with them and don’t shy away from discussing racism (within appropriate contexts) ● Graduate Students / Postdocs

○ Respect your Black colleagues and #CiteBlackWomen www.citeblackwomencollective.org/○ Reach out to your Black undergraduate mentees and ask what they need from you○ Discuss what you did in this group with your lab mates, encourage others to join

Undergraduate students are not stupid. They know what performative wokeness looks like.

References and Further Readings ● Each other!!! You are not alone!

● Life of Breath, Breathing Race Into the Machine● National Geographic, There’s No Scientific Basis for Race ● Flash Forward Podcast, BODIES: InkRx ● Ruha Benjamin, Race After Technology ● Goldschneider, B., & Pitterson, N. P., & Case, J. M. (2020, June), Disciplinary Socialization in First-year STEM Students. Paper

presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Online. https://peer.asee.org/34468 ● BIPOC at UConn SoE Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bipoc.at.uconnsoe/)● Riley, Donna & Pawley, Alice & Tucker, Jessica & Catalano, George. (2009). Feminisms in Engineering Education:

Transformative Possibilities. 21. 10.1353/nwsa.0.0076. (ResearchGate)

● Tatum (1997), “Defining Racism: Can We Talk?” ● Miner (1956), “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” ● Carr (2010), “Enactments of Expertise”● Leo Marx (1987), “Does improved technology mean progress?”● Sclove (1995), “Making Technology Democratic” ● Sherry Arnstein (1969), “A Ladder of Citizen Participation” ● Graham (1993), “The Ghost of the Executed Engineer: Technology and the Fall of Soviet Union”

Co-Developing Ground Rules

(15 min)

Formation of Groups (10 min) ● Membership assigned to smaller groups (Groups #1-#5)

○ Groups will receive introductory email from Dianna○ Can switch to another group if needed

● Groups encouraged to meet 1-2x per month● Assign a Group Coordinator to communicate with committee about meetings,

other needs● Rotate the group member leading the discussion

○ Utilize the Book Discussion Kit linked via website - http://s.uconn.edu/soereads○ Collectively determine supplemental materials or activities to enhance discussions○ Be creative with format – podcasts, movies, videos, music, etc

● Entire membership to meet 2 times per semester – approx. October and December

Wrap-Up & Questions

(5 min)