TECAID Strategy

TECAID aims to prepare a cadre of faculty leaders who can successfully engage their colleagues and undertake initiatives to improve department culture and climate over time. TECAID is based on the principle that diversity and inclusion are crucial and powerful core elements in the success of educational and research environments.

Fundamental to TECAID’s professional development approach is the importance of “subject matter expertise” and how to:

• recognize what expertise is needed
• identify what expertise is available
• make use of the expertise of others
• apply many streams of expertise and “best practice” to fit a local project and context
• develop expertise oneself
• become a resource for others
• lead others in making change
• develop the capacity of others to make and lead change

TECAID’s Subject Matter Expert Team, in collaboration with the TECAID Project Team, designed a multi-faceted interplay of learning opportunities intended to enrich participant capacity to create and sustain inclusive engineering department cultures by increasing participant subject matter expertise in three domains:

• Awareness and knowledge about inclusion and diversity in engineering higher education.
• Competence and confidence in building teams and working with colleagues.
• Change-making and change-leadership strategies in complex, shared-governance academic settings.

These TECAID opportunities supported participants in:

• Gaining perspective on and improving the experiences of underrepresented students, faculty, and staff.
• Becoming knowledgeable about the impacts of stereotypes and unintended bias in higher education.
• Voicing the importance of inclusive environments and facilitating effective dialogue needed to create better department climates/cultures
• Creating more cohesive and robust institutional change strategies by linking with other institutional expertise, resources, and efforts.
• Enhancing and facilitating the process of change-planning and goal setting in an academic department.
• Increasing collaboration and improving communication among faculty, staff and students.
• Promoting the need for responsible academic citizenship regarding gender, race, sexual orientation and other social identities.
• Improving department leadership, policies, and practices.

From March 2015 through August 2016, the TECAID faculty and staff participants engaged in a range of activities—frequently interwoven and concurrently conducted—to provide strong support and reflective opportunities:

• Initial interviews with department chairs and online surveys of all participants
• Four, two-day, in-person workshops that employed a rich combination of presentations; group exercises; cross-department small group exercises; and facilitated group activities.
• Web-based clinic-ing sessions between department teams and the Subject Matter Expert Team in both small and large groups.
• Written “data feedback” exchanges between individuals, teams, and the Subject Matter Expert Team based on data provided by teams.
• Monthly, web-based Virtual Learning Community meetings and an online community workspace/discussion forum.
• Team-created, inclusion and diversity-focused, departmental-change projects
• Periodic participant surveys and program evaluation to provide regular feedback on all project activities

‍

"I make sure I tell people that this is not just a TECAID project; it is a long-term culture change. I want us to keep talking about these issues.”

– N. Barr, Michigan Technological University

‍

"The most important part to learn while doing is the [diversity, equity, & inclusion] knowledge. Without that a person can create change but it may not impact on [diversity, equity & inclusion].”

– A. Morse, Michigan Technological University, formerly Texas Tech University

‍

"[TECAID] inspired our team to make a concrete plan for how we were going to address our challenges and build on what was already happening on campus.”

– P. Davies, Purdue University

‍

TECAID Workshops

TECAID workshops provided participants with key tools, intra-team time, and intensive cross-team learning experiences. Gathering in person also provided participants an opportunity to discuss and suggest modifications for the ongoing Virtual Learning Community (VLC) process.

Workshop 1: Awareness-building for Mechanical Engineering departments–theory, research, and experience.

This workshop provided participants with conceptual tools to explore, analyze, and begin planning a departmental change project.

Themes included:

• How diversity and inclusion make people and groups smarter (the educational value of inclusion and diversity)
• The relevance of social identity
• Stereotypes and biases
• Change strategies
• Leadership models

Workshop 2: Hands-on prioritizing of change goals and change-planning for ME departments.

This workshop aimed to help participants understand the nature, theory, and practice of change--especially in academic environments; identify and develop the skills that support change; differentiate symptoms from problems; and hone in on effective change skills.

Topics included:

• Assessing the conditions for making change (resources and barriers)
• Changing the balance of forces to make change possible
• Potential risks in working on diversity issues
• Learning from and responding to resistance
• Productive perspectives on conflict
• Change team dynamics (identity, leadership, issues of rank, differences in key values, project definition)

Workshop 3: Strategies and tactics for testing and implementing change.

The focus of this workshop was to help participants understand themselves as emerging subject matter experts: where they are (vis-a-vis the past many months together); how they got there; what’s changing and how it’s changing; how they help others; how they take action; and more.

Topics included:

• Defining expertise
• Personal resources, behaviors, and change
• Giving and receiving feedback
• Difficult conversation skills
• Facilitation skills
• Building awareness re: the impact of departmental positions and roles

Workshop 4: Intentional transition for future leadership

The final workshop positioned participants to transition from the formal TECAID structure to self-initiated, collaborative, diversity and inclusion leadership work as both individuals and teams.

Topics included:

• Formal ME department team project presentations
• When going public: Advice
• Sustaining the project work
• Individual focus and passion
• Working with allies

‍

"The workshops have definitely given us focused time to learn about [diversity, equity & inclusion] and consider how we can use this knowledge on our campus.”

– J. Jones, Purdue University

‍

The workshop offers a great way to build team vision through external coaching/mentoring. The collective experience of other teams working alongside is very powerful to keep forward progress.”
– K. Haapala, Oregon State University

‍

"[TECAID] was a great way to learn about: structured mechanisms to address challenges in increasing diversity and inclusion, … research in diversity and inclusion, …difficult diversity and inclusion conversations, … [engaging] allies [and] existing campus resources, … [and] take advantage of opportunities to make progress.”

– P. Davies, Purdue University

‍

TECAID Virtual Learning Community (VLC)

TECAID’S Virtual Learning Community (VLC) gave teams the opportunity to network with one another and have access to subject matter experts (SMEs) on a monthly basis.

VLC meetings included participants from each department team , together with project leaders and members of the subject matter expert team. The VLC convened for web-based or in-person meetings from April 2015 through August 2016. The VLC brought department teams together as a cohort with similar goals, challenges and concerns. They exchanged experiences, provided feedback, shared successes, offered advice, and encouraged one another’s personal and team efforts.

VLC discussion topics were generated by participants and included:

Mechanical Engineering Department Projects for TECAID

• Successes and challenges: Monthly updates on TECAID projects from each ME Department Team.

Climate, Culture, Inclusion and Diversity

• Campus climate re: events taking place on campuses around the country
• Performing student and faculty climate studies: How are they developed and how can the results be used?

Leading Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Among Different Stakeholder Groups (students, faculty, staff, alumni, etc.)

• Timing of presentations for maximum impact
• Dealing with resistance or lack of interest/concern
• Managing updates, presentations, overload
• Sharing successful activities
• Reaching out to alums: Activities and responses
• Building/continuing the momentum

Student-focused Inclusion and Diversity

• Creating freshman orientation videos
• Developing classroom diversity and inclusion presentations for students
• Making curriculum changes and measuring learning outcomes
• Student responses to department diversity and inclusion efforts

Change Leadership Skills

• Conflict management styles
• Time management and setting priorities
• Assessing the impact of team and department efforts
• Measuring success (metrics)

‍

"It is an excellent program and we have learned so much [about diversity, equity, & inclusion] strategies and techniques.”

– J. Yang, Texas Tech University

‍

"[I gained] an overall appreciation of how all of the teams have progressed. It was really nice to see how we've all done useful things. It was also like a 'reunion' of sorts... the entire group has turned into a 'class' it seems. I looked forward to seeing everyone not just to see our progress, but to see how everyone was doing, too. I feel invested in the other groups' change projects as much as I am in our own.”

– B. Gibbons, Oregon State University

‍

"TECAID is a program to learn about the methods, tools, and critical issues to help the participants develop a more inclusive and thus diverse environment for learning, teaching, and research for faculty, students, and staff in the workplace, particularly in the mechanical engineering departments.”

– C. Altan, University of Oklahoma

‍

TECAID Clinic-ing

TECAID clinic-ing provided participant teams with project-tailored advice and an opportunity to integrate the tools presented in TECAID workshops. Each team had the opportunity to participate in two, 1-hour web-based “clinic-ing” sessions.

These clinic-ing sessions provided contact and interaction between the Subject Matter Expert Team (SMEs) and the five

• Provide reassurance of “normal” project trajectories and team experiences.
• Support realistic expectations for the pace and process of change.
• Provide encouragement and perspective about successes and frustrations.
• Gather information and suggestions relevant to planning a subsequent workshop.

Clinic-ing provided bridges between the workshops, the data feedback process, and the Virtual Learning Community (VLC) conversations—giving eachteam the opportunity to:

• Discuss issues informed by and focused on the specific goals, team concerns, and departmental dynamics of that team
• Integrate workshop materials in an applied manner
• Troubleshoot specific challenges related to their project (e.g., planning a presentation to colleagues, dealing with resistance)
• Get advice on strategies and needs not addressed in workshops (e.g., making better use of departmental staff to support the project)
• Claim, appreciate, and integrate their success and achievements to date

‍

"The biggest gain was perspective. Seemingly small victories can effect more change than we realize and all accomplishments should be appreciated. What appears to be a barrier might not be as insurmountable as it first appears and might even end up being a resource before all is said and done. Conflict doesn’t have to be a negative; on the contrary, it can help stimulate discussion and bring in viewpoints that hadn’t yet been considered.”

- TECAID Participant

‍

Data Feedback

TECAID’s data feedback process provided individuals and teams an opportunity to reflect on goals and progress. This process involved using data collected from individual TECAID participants to inform TECAID team and project planning through feedback and interpretation from the Subject Matter Expert Team (SMEs). These activities provided both SMEs and teams with insight into the various perspectives and experiences of the teams and their individual members.

Data was collected from individual TECAID participants in fall of 2015 and spring of 2016 on topics such as:

• Ideas about specific change metrics
• Concerns about challenges to project buy-in
• Experiences with team dynamics and decision-making
• Knowledge of campus diversity resources
• Departmental frictions or divisions
• Personal skills as a change leader
• Project allies
• Lessons learned from project steps that succeeded, and from those that failed

Tailored feedback based on this data was sent to each team, including:

• Charts, graphs and analysis of a team’s own data, presented in aggregate form
• Expert interpretations of the meaning and implications of these data for team and project success
• Discussion questions and follow up tasks to facilitate use of this data

Overall, the Data Feedback process:

• Helped teams clarify their intent and understand their change project better
• Promoted more open and engaged team discussion informed by the thoughtful concerns and input of all individuals within a team
• Identified cross-cutting themes, questions, concerns, and possibilities across change teams and projects
• Informed the development of team resources and workshop design elements

‍

"We now have a path forward that takes into account each teammate’s highest priority.”

– N. Barr, Michigan Technological University

‍

"The experience focuses on changing the people involved (me and my team, in this case). With a better understanding of ourselves, along with concrete tools, we will now be able to tackle our change projects.”

– M. Miller, Campbell University, formerly Michigan Technological University

‍

"TECAID gives you the foundational knowledge you need on diversity and inclusion issues in higher education.”

– R. Stone, Oregon State University

‍