Becoming Institutional Change Agents in STEM Rossier School of Education Becoming Institutional...

USC Rossier School of Education

Becoming Institutional Change Agents in STEM Alicia C. Dowd, Associate Professor & Co-Director

NSF STEP Grantees MeetingWashington, D.C. March 17, 2011

U.S. Population

White, 67.4

Asian, 4.4

Black, 12.5

Hispanic, 15

American Indian,

1

S&E Workforce

White, 74.5

Asian, 16.4

Black, 4.0

Hispanic, 4.7

American Indian,

0.4

U.S Population and U.S. Science and Engineering Workforce, by Race/Ethnicity, 2006

UR Minorities in US Pop = 28.5% UR Minorities in US S&E = 9.1%

Excerpted from Talent at the Crossroads

Women and underrepresented minorities as a percentage of full-time, full professors with

science and engineering doctorates: 1979–2008

Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2011

www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/

Employed Hispanics 16 years and older as a percentage of selected occupations: 2009



Preparing the Next Generation of STEM Innovators

7

Keystone Recommendations:

I. Provide opportunities for excellence

II. Cast a wide net

III. Foster a supportive ecosystem


9

II. Policy Actions: Cast a Wide Net

• Improve talent assessment systems

• Preparation in STEM talent identification for teachers,

principals, and counselors

• Improve identification of overlooked abilities


10

III. Policy Actions:

Foster a Supportive Ecosystem

• Campaign to appreciate academic excellence

• Professional development for educators in STEM

pedagogy

• Professional development for principals and

counselors to develop leadership skills

• Conference to explore best practices


A Social Scientist’s Dilemma

How do individuals become motivated

to change practices and policies in

which they are embedded, which may

be invisible to them? To become a

“change agent”?


Case Studies with Mixed Method Rich Case Sampling of “Exemplars”I. Multiple Regression: Prediction of

“Overperformers”II. Web Site Review: Institutional Support?III. Interviews and Observations at potential

exemplary institutions

• 6 HSIs (3 four-year universities and their feeder community college)

• 100 faculty, administrator, and staff interviews


Collaborating Researchers

• Estela Mara Bensimon, USC Professor and CUE Co-Director, Co-PI

• Ricardo Stanton Salazar, USC Associate Professor• Lindsey Malcom, UCRiverside Assistant Professor• Roseanne Macias• Brianne Davila• Linda Taing Shieh


The Center for Urban Education (CUE)

conducts socially conscious research

and develops tools needed for

institutions of higher education to

produce equity in student outcomes.


Theoretical Approaches

•Sociology

•Action Research/Action Science

•Practice Theory

•Organizational Learning

•Critical Theory

•Psychology


Institutional Agents (Stanton-Salazar, 1997, 2001, & 2010).

• High-status • Non-kin individuals • Provide key forms of social and institutional

support• Negotiate institutional support, in the form of

highly valued resources, opportunities, privileges, and services

• Have a critical consciousness


Institutional Agent Role Types

• Knowledge Agent

• Advisor

• Advocate

• Networking Coach

• Integrative Agent

• Cultural Guide

• Program Developer

• Lobbyist

• Political Advocate

• Recruiter

• Bridging Agent

• Institutional Broker

• Coordinator


Types of Institutional Support

Direct Support

Integrative Support

Systems Developer

System Linkage & Networking Support

Knowledge Agent Integrative Agent Program Developer

Recruiter

Advisor Cultural Guide Lobbyist Bridging Agent

Advocate Political Advocate Institutional Broker

Networking Coach Coordinator

Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2010). A Social Capital Framework for the Study of Institutional Agents and

Their Role in the Empowerment of Low-Status Students and Youth. Youth & Society.


Professor Manuel Diaz

• Professor of Bio-Chemistry• Teaches at a four-year Hispanic Serving

Institution• Mexican American Male• Taught at university for over 15 years

Read the Manuel Diaz Profile in CUE’s STEM Toolkit: Tools for Increasing Latina and Latino STEM Baccalaureates

http://cue.usc.edu/tools/stem_focus.html


Manuel Diaz – an Institutional Agent

What Institutional Agent roles does Professor Diaz take on with his students?

• Bridging Agent

• Cultural Guide

• Integrative Agent

• Networking Coach

• Advocate


Professor Luis Martinez – Program Developer

•Chemistry Professor & Dean of Diversity Initiatives at a four-year university

•Develops programs

•Advocates for systemic change

•Reinterprets selection criteria

•Changes the rules

•Sees and develops talent

•Creates networks


Professor Brian Breslaw – Lobbyist

•Engineering Professor at a community college

•Lobbies his Dean for resources to establish a partnership between their college and the medical school at the local four-year university to introduce his Latino engineering students to bio-medical engineering


Institutional Agents in Action – Sarah Gardner

• Program Director of a federally funded STEM Program for underserved students

• Works at a four-year university• White Female• Has been working at university for

5 years


How does Sarah Gardner Take on the Following Institutional Agent roles?

• Knowledge Agent

• Advisor

• Advocate

• Coordinator


Institutional Agent Role Types

Institutional Agent

Direct Support

Resource Agent

•provides personal and positional resources to students

Knowledge Agent

•knows “the system”

•accesses or provides knowledge pertinent to navigating the system

Advisor

•helps students gather information

•assesses problems and possible solutions in a collaborative manner

•promotes & guides effective decision making

Advocate

•promotes and protects the interests of “their” students

Networking Coach

•teaches students how to networkwith key institutional agents

•models appropriate networkingbehavior

•develops relationships with important and influential people

Integrative Support

Integrative Agent

•coordinates students’ integration and participation in networks and professional venues (professional associations, department, school, etc.)

Cultural Guide

•guides students through new social situations in a particular cultural sphere

•teaches students to identify and interact with key people in cultural sphere

System Linkage & Networking

Support

Recruiter

•actively recruits students into program, department, etc.

Bridging Agent

•introduces students to institutional agents

•has a strong social network

•knows what key players do

Institutional Broker

•negotiates introductions and agreements between two or more parties

•knows what resources are available and who controls or possesses them

Coordinator

•assesses student’s needs

•identifies resources to address need

•provides or accesses institutional resources on behalf of students

•ensures students utilize resources

System Developer

Program Developer

•develops program that embeds students in a system of agents, resources, and opportunities

Lobbyist

•lobbies for organizational resources to be directed toward recruiting and supporting

Political Advocate

•joins political action group that advocates for social policies and institutional resources that would benefits targeted groups of students

Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (in press). A social capital framework for the study of institutional agents & their role in the empowerment of low-status

students & youth. Youth & Society.


“Theorizing”

requires

Epistemic

Knowledge

Three Life Tasks…Require Different Forms of Knowledge


“Building”

requires

Techne

Knowledge



“Praxis”

(Doing the Good)

Requires Phronetic

Knowledge

(Phronesis/

Practical Wisdom)



Science and engineering bachelor’s degrees earned by underrepresented minorities, by field:

1989–2008




0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

90,000

100,000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

S&E

Non S&E

Bachelor's Degrees Awarded to Hispanics in Science & Engineering and Non-Science & Engineering Fields, 2000-2008

National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics. 2011. Women, Minorities,

and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2011. Special Report NSF 11-309.

Arlington, VA. Available at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/.


2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Social Sciences 8,936 8,966 9,628 10,580 11,244 12,358 12,786 13,766 14,605

Psychology 6,127 6,178 6,695 6,828 7,285 7,708 8,236 8,506 8,885

Biological Sciences 4,446 4,547 4,367 4,840 4,611 4,819 5,084 5,453 5,995

Engineering 4,075 4,015 4,136 4,358 4,483 4,628 4,928 4,962 5,234

Computer Sciences 2,154 2,396 2,776 3,590 3,758 3,529 3,351 2,970 2,923

Mathematics & Statistics 599 625 672 671 678 821 881 946 924

Physical Sciences 883 870 863 861 885 938 989 1,032 1,122

Earth, Atmospheric, & Ocean Sciences

125 157 136 119 131 151 143 135 192

-

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000 To

tal D

egr

ee

s A

war

de

d

National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics. 2011. Women, Minorities, and

Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2011. Special Report NSF 11-309. Arlington, VA.

Available at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/.

Bachelor’s Degrees Awarded to Hispanics in Science and Engineering Fields, 2000-2008


Enrollment in Undergraduate Engineering Programs, 1998-2008

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Hispanic 28,802 29,111 31,107 31,482 33,311 35,230 35,060 35,198 36,389 39,448 41,919

All Undergraduates 366,991 361,395 390,803 409,557 421,178 421,791 419,387 409,326 405,489 431,910 442,952

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

450,000

500,000

Tota

l En

rollm

en

t

National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics. 2011. Women, Minorities, and Persons with

Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2011. Special Report NSF 11-309. Arlington, VA. Available at

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/.


Enrollment in Undergraduate Engineering Programs, 1998-2008

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

450,000

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Tota

l En

rollm

en

t

Hispanics

All Other Ethnicities

National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics. 2011. Women, Minorities, and Persons with

Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2011. Special Report NSF 11-309. Arlington, VA. Available at

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/.


Degrees Awarded to Hispanics in Science and Engineering Fields, 2000-2008

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Associate 4,361 5,105 5,582 6,994 6,910 6,615 6,006 6,118 6,376

Bachelor 27,980 28,361 29,935 32,533 33,748 35,662 37,049 38,546 40,877

Master 3,762 4,113 4,106 4,384 5,111 5,380 5,681 6,041 6,216

Doctorate 719 815 758 784 916 973 1,003 1,071 1,162

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

40,000

45,000

Tota

l De

gre

es

Aw

ard

ed

National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics. 2011. Women, Minorities,

and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2011. Special Report NSF 11-309.

Arlington, VA. Available at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/.


Science and Engineering Doctoral Degrees Awarded By Ethnicity and Citizenship, 2000-2008

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Hispanic 719 815 758 784 916 973 1,003 1,071 1,162

All other US Citizens 16,727 16,466 15,556 16,071 16,355 16,856 17,397 18,524 19,022

Temporary Resident 7,977 8,192 7,940 8,570 9,302 10,732 12,052 12,993 13,173

-

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

20,000

Tota

l De

gre

es

Aw

ard

ed

National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics. 2011. Women, Minorities, and

Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2011. Special Report NSF 11-309. Arlington, VA.


A Tool for Equity in STEM:

Math Syllabi Review


Reproduced from Fishbein, M. & Ajzen, I. (2010)

Predicting and Changing Behavior: The Reasoned

Action Approach

Developmental

Evaluation Study


Contact InformationCenter for Urban Education, USC

[email protected]

(213) 740-5202

http://cue.usc.edu

Suggested Citation:

Dowd, A.C. (2011). “Becoming Institutional Change Agents in STEM."

PowerPoint presentation. NSF STEP Grantees Meeting.

Washington, D.C. March 17, 2011.

Center for Urban Education © 2011 All rights reserved.

University of Southern California

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