Establish
Establishing baseline support for groups underrepresented in engineering.
Committed to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
The American Society of Engineering Education established the Diversity Recognition Program to honor engineering and engineering technology colleges that significantly improve the diversity, inclusivity and degree achievement outcomes of their programs. We’re proud to say Miami University is one of the top universities in the country for inclusive excellence, achieving a bronze level of accreditation.
Our Ongoing Actions
We've demonstrated our continuing commitment to DEI at the College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) by:
Analyze and Assess
Quantifiably analyzing and assessing unit composition, policies, culture and climate related to all groups underrepresented in engineering.
Implement
Implementing programs and initiatives that strengthen the K-12 or community college pipeline, so we can reduce significant barriers related to long-term growth.
Develop
Developing an action plan with a focus on continual improvement.
What Constitutes Diversity?
We view diversity holistically, understanding that the definition is constantly evolving. Our definition of diversity includes but is not limited to race, ethnicity, color, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, class, religion, disability, age, military status, visa status, economic status, geographic location, and language/linguistic ability. Diverse and well-reasoned ideas, approaches, and experiences are also essential parts of inclusion and equity.
What Are Our Guiding Principles and Values?
Miami University is committed to and fully embraces the philosophy and belief that a diverse academic community is among an institution's greatest strengths. As decades of research and experience have shown, every unit and individual on campus benefits from diversity when there is an environment where people from a wide variety of backgrounds learn from one another, share ideas, and work collaboratively to ask and solve questions. This is especially important given Miami's commitment to excellence in undergraduate teaching and learning. A diverse and inclusive campus enhances the living, learning, and working environment for every student, staff, and faculty member. Together, these benefits help Miami achieve its special mission as a public institution in Ohio, educating students across the state and preparing them to be leaders in a variety of fields who are ready for the demands of the 21st-century workforce. We, therefore, aspire to attract and retain a broadly diverse group of faculty, staff and students.
CEC’s Strategic Diversity Goals
To be consistent with our University's diversity goals, our College's goals use the same categories.
- Offer Safe Zone workshops to departments for all faculty.
- Integrate diversity/inclusion text on class syllabi for our College’s courses, as guided by University and ASEE language on inclusive pedagogy.
- Offer inclusive pedagogy workshops for all faculty.
- Use diverse and inclusive language and examples when appropriate in classes and meetings.
- Actively engage with Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) in programs with University and CPS partners.
- Continue to engage pre-college underrepresented populations in programmatic offerings.
- Create support mechanisms to attract under-represented faculty and staff.
- Develop data-driven retention programming within CEC, and demonstrate measurable improvement in retention of at-risk students.
- Help existing student organizations implement Big Sibling or similar tiered mentoring programs to encourage support and persistence of students in CEC majors.
- Provide formal announcements on programs available for CEC faculty/staff professional development.
- Change the template for faculty annual reviews to include mechanisms for faculty to document implementation of inclusive teaching practices in the classroom, and development and external impact of inclusive curricular innovations on the engineering/computing education community.
- Support the continued growth and development of our student organizations for diverse populations.
- Promote and nominate faculty/staff for university, regional, and national recognition and awards for their work as allies and advocates for diversity and inclusion.
- Implement a diversity/inclusion talking point (e.g. research finding, possible initiative, etc.) as a regular agenda item in divisional leadership meetings and in weekly email announcement bulletins.
- Include diversity/inclusion within the mission, vision, values, and strategic plan for the College of Engineering and Computing.
- Redesign some of our common spaces in the college to celebrate diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- Invite speakers from diverse backgrounds for college and department sponsored events to showcase role models of difference.
- Pursue external funding opportunities to support a more diverse student, faculty, and staff body.
- Engage with alumni and friends interested in sponsoring DEI initiatives.
The College of Engineering and Computing
