Broadening Participation in Engineering at NC State

On September 7, 2018, experts from all corners of engineering education came together at NC State University to discuss the challenges and solutions for finding ways to broaden participation in engineering to underrepresented groups. Hosted by the Depa …

On September 7, 2018, experts from all corners of engineering education came together at NC State University to discuss the challenges and solutions for finding ways to broaden participation in engineering to underrepresented groups.

Hosted by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NC State, in the Talley Student Union on NC State’s campus, the Forum on Broadening Participating in Engineering brought advancement experts from the University, as well as programming leaders from across the UNC System and beyond.

“This forum addresses a continuing challenge for ECE: the demographics of our Department are very different from those of the State that we serve,” explained Dr. Dan Stancil, department head of ECE at NC State. “As an example, although African Americans make up almost ¼ of the population of North Carolina, less than 5% of our undergraduate students identify themselves as African American. Consequently, broadening the participation in our Department will help us better serve the citizens of the state, and will also bring fresh perspectives to ECE—enhancing our success.”

Following a welcome by Chancellor Woodson of NC State, an opening keynote by Dr. Harold Martin, the Chancellor of North Carolina A&T State University, dove into the long history of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in North Carolina, and followed the journey that NC A&T has taken since its founding, tracking the challenges they have overcome.

“There is so much to do, and so much opportunity,” summed up Martin. “Conversations like these are always inspiring to me, so I think we have to be clear about what we’re trying to accomplish, how we’re trying to ensure that all have an opportunity to be included in the conversations, to benefit from the educations opportunities, and then the opportunities that will be able to be afforded to them following graduation.”

Martin has been Chancellor of NC A&T since 2009, and since this time the University has significantly expanded its research expenditures, increased endowment holdings by 150%, and become the nation’s largest HBCU. Under Martin’s leadership, NC A&T has become one of the nation’s top producers of African American graduates in engineering, mathematics, statistics, agriculture, journalism, visual and performing arts, marketing and physical sciences.

The Forum continued with an enlightening panel discussion featuring Dr. Clay Gloster, Jr, the Interim Vice Provost for Research, Graduate Programs and Extended Learning at North Carolina A&T State University; Dr. Elebeoba E. May, Program Director, Molecular & Cellular Biosciences (BIO/MCB) at the National Science Foundation; Dr. Manuel Pérez-Quiñones, Associate Dean of the College of Computing and Informatics at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Dr. Renetta Tull, Special Assistant to the Sr. Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University System of Maryland; and Dr. Iris R. Wagstaff, STEM Program Director for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Moderated by Dr. Christine Grant, the associate dean for faculty advancement in the College of Engineering at NC State, the panel tackled questions ranging from the impact of research faculty’s engagement of underrepresented students to the impacts of culture in engineering.

Martin has been Chancellor of NC A&T since 2009, and since this time the University has significantly expanded its research expenditures, increased endowment holdings by 150%, and become the nation’s largest HBCU. Under Chancellor Martin’s leadership, NC A&T has become one of the nation’s top producers of African American graduates in engineering, mathematics, statistics, agriculture, journalism, visual and performing arts, marketing and physical sciences.

The forum was also broadcast live, and its entirety is available to watch on YouTube.