The Problem: It is no secret that very few faculty members from the historically underrepresented groups – including Blacks, Hispanics, and other racial/gender minority groups – are currently present in science-related disciplines. In the United States, out of the 1.5 million full-time professors across all disciplines in colleges and universities, teaching and doing research in the fall of 2016, only about 7% are blacks and Hispanics (including male and female)[1]. This percentage is even much lower for faculty members in physical science-related disciplines of most universities. For example, across several departments in the Division of Physical Sciences here at UCLA, only one or two minority faculty members are often part of the faculty pool in each department. Despite efforts to increase diversity among these faculty members, the racial and gender disparity is still obvious. Part of the problem is because only a few students that graduate with a Ph.D. in science-related disciplines and capable of becoming faculty members are from these historically under-represented groups[2]. To make matters worse, studies have also shown that minority students are more likely to pursue a discipline if they see a lecturer or professor of similar gender and/or race in that same discipline[3]. Therefore, if more minority students are not encouraged to pursue an academic career in science-related disciplines, we are likely going to end up in a future where the disparity in race and gender is even wider. Although this problem has previously been recognized, no identifiable effort that showcases these minority faculty members to aspiring college or high school student is widely visible in the public domain.
The Solution is to tell the stories of the few minority faculty members from these historically underrepresented groups, in a way that stimulates and motivates minority students to pursue careers in science-related disciplines. To attain a high level of success, a lot of the minority faculty members often have to give substantial personal sacrifices amid discrimination, self-doubt, and hostile environments. As a result, they mostly work twice as hard to receive the same level of recognition as their white male counterparts. Since the struggles of these minority faculty members are often not unique, they are similar to those experienced by several graduate, undergraduate, and even high-school students from underrepresented groups in science-related disciplines, although in somewhat different forms. Students may easily become overwhelmed when facing these challenges and may also be tempted to drop out because most of them are likely not familiar with stories of faculty members that have passed through similar experiences and yet attain a high-level achievement thereafter. For example, a recent study has found that about a third of minority students in science-related disciplines drop out their postsecondary education, in part because of experiences that make them feel like they do not belong, or are not smart enough[4]. In addition, unconscious biases sometimes lead instructors and advisors to judge the work of minority graduate students in a way that is different if a white male counterpart had done the same work. With no immediate mentor to navigate these minority students through the challenges, they often question their ability and self-worth, and eventually feel isolated and depressed[5]. Therefore, it is important to tell the stories – the struggles and the success stories – of the few faculty members from the historically underrepresented groups, with the aim of using those stories to encourage minority students in science-related disciplines.
The Plan: We plan to tell the stories of these minority faculty members in a video documentary series called "Faces of Diversity in Science." Each video will highlight a unique and challenging experience, discuss how they overcome those challenges, and eventually how those experiences made then better in the course of their career. We plan to host the video docu-series on a website that will be accessible to the minority students. In addition, we also plan to accompany the story of each faculty member with a campaign that includes articles/blogs and poster presentations along the hallway of some of the departments of the Physical Sciences Division. While the initial phase of this project is targeted at the minority graduate and undergraduate students in the Physical Science division, it is expected to benefit all students across all disciplines on the campus. In future, we hope to include additional outreach component that explores the stories of graduate students from the historically underrepresented groups with the aim of using them to encourage students in high school around the Los Angeles area.
[1] National Center for Education Statistics (https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=61)
[2] Estrada, M., Burnett, M., Campbell, A. G., Campbell, P. B., Denetclaw, W. F., Gutiérrez, C. G., ... & Okpodu, C. M. (2016). Improving underrepresented minority student persistence in STEM. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 15(3).
[3] Gershenson, S., Hart, C., Hyman, J., Lindsay, C., & Papageorge, N. W. (2018). The long-run impacts of same-race teachers (No. w25254). National Bureau of Economic Research ((http://ftp.iza.org/dp10630.pdf)).
[4] Riegle-Crumb, C., King, B., & Irizarry, Y. (2019). Does STEM stand out? Examining racial/ethnic gaps in persistence across postsecondary fields. Educational Researcher, 48(3), 133-144.
[5] Darrell Cleveland: A Long Way to Go: Conversations about Race by African American Faculty and Graduate Students, Higher ed, v. 14., New York : P. Lang, ©2004.