In June 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in the case, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, that barred colleges and universities from using race as a factor in admissions decisions. This decision represented a clear signal of change with respect to Diversity / Equity / Inclusion (DEI) programs in public and private organizations across the United States. Since that decision other signals of change confirming the pushback against DEI have emerged. These include actions by multiple state legislatures that ban DEI programs at state universities and legal challenges to corporate and non-profit DEI programs. This emerging trend, which was one of the focal points at our 2024 Engineering Change Lab – USA (ECL) Engineering Ideas Institute, brings significant implications for the engineering community workforce.
DEI initiatives are organizational activities designed to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people and to create an environment where all are respected and empowered. Special consideration is given to groups who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination based on identity or disability. Well-designed programs should be for everyone. Some of the recent pushback is due to the perception that, in some cases, DEI programs have been designed to advance underrepresented people at the expense of the majority. Isolated cases of poorly designed programs, however, should not be used to discredit the positive impacts of fair treatment and full participation for all.
With respect to the engineering community, DEI efforts should be broadened to include providing equity in opportunities for groups that have traditionally not been well-represented in both educational programs and careers in the engineering community.
Women and minorities have been underrepresented in the engineering community workforce for decades. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, women represented 24% of engineering degree awards and 16% of the engineering workforce in 2019. The same report indicated that minorities accounted for 14% of engineering degree awards and 12% of the engineering workforce in 2019.1 Despite many significant, well-intentioned efforts, these numbers have remained relatively steady for many years. Put another way, we are failing to attract and retain our share of the talents and skills of over 50 percent of the population.
This failure occurs at a time when ever greater contributions are needed from the engineering community to address societal challenges such as deteriorating infrastructure, climate change, access to clean water, threats to the natural world, the need for better medicines, cybersecurity threats, and the need for more equitable communities. This failure also occurs at a time when higher education is facing a potential enrollment cliff that will affect all professions.
DEI strategies can be a key element of addressing our workforce needs and can also ensure varied perspectives that lead to more robust and inclusive solutions to the complex problems we face. By welcoming a variety of voices, we enhance our problem-solving capabilities and ensure that the engineering community can effectively address the multi-faceted challenges of the future. At the same time, DEI strategies also contribute to correcting centuries of injustice for those segments of our population who have not had equitable opportunities to contribute to the work of the engineering community.
At ECL’s Workforce of the Future summit in June 2024, Dr. Jenna Carpenter of Campbell University and Past President of ASEE, described an approach to DEI strategies in academia that has proven effective in moving the needle on the recruitment and retention of diverse segments of the population in the engineering community. She stressed the need to reframe engineering education from the historical “weeding out” culture to one of “weaving in.” She also emphasized another needed cultural shift – from focusing on a narrow group of potential students who have enjoyed a wealth of pre-college “opportunity” toward a view that embraces the “ability” of all potential students with personalized on-ramps and pathways.
Dr. Carpenter described evidence-based practices in recruiting, admissions, onboarding, skill development, instruction, advising, and mentoring that are necessary for these shifts. She stressed that a key step underlying all other shifts is the need to change the messaging regarding what engineering is and what an engineer looks like. She stressed the need for targeted, appealing messages alongside profiles of people who look like those we are trying to attract and are doing things they are interested in.
As discussed above, some DEI programs have experienced pushback centered on the concept of equity. There is a view that these DEI programs create a “zero sum” game – that preferences to women and/or minorities will exclude others. In the engineering community we need to focus on “growing the pie” rather than on this zero-sum philosophy. We need to view equity with respect to opportunity rather than with outcomes.
There are many examples of engineering organizations that have maintained their focus on DEI, despite the recent pushback. One of these organizations is the University of Nebraska College of Engineering, led by Dean Lance Perez. Perez is a strong believer in his college’s Inclusive Excellence program. The vision for the program includes “increasing the percentage of faculty and students from underrepresented groups in science and engineering (women and minorities), with the long-term goal of reaching the same percentages found in the greater community.”
Perez believes the Inclusive Excellence program is important because it is the right thing to do and because employers are demanding it. He noted that the college’s industry advisors have told him that they see the business case for a more diverse workforce, and they want employees who are equipped to function in a diverse society. He also agrees with the need to “grow the pie” of the engineering community because the health of society depends on engineering and technology. Tapping into the fastest growing segments of the population is key to growing the pie. He also noted that all students in the college benefit from the program because they are better prepared to enter careers that will be global in nature.
We have multiple reasons to implement effective DEI programs in the engineering community that grow the pie.
- The engineering community continues to face a workforce gap with the need for new engineers far exceeding the number of new graduates, and job openings far exceeding job applicants.
- As described above, there is a compelling need for the engineering community to increase its contributions to the challenges that society faces, which is the core purpose of ECL. Over the long term, this will require increasing our workforce. We must tap all potential sources of workers, and we must retain those that we recruit.
- There is a need in the engineering community to do our work differently than we have done in the past. We have a much greater chance of achieving this if our workforce reflects the communities we serve and functions effectively in a diverse society.
- We need to accept the reality of our country’s history regarding inequities in opportunity and do our part to provide this equity in opportunities in the future.
An important observation made by Lance Perez is that he has personally experienced how opportunity has the power to transform lives. This may be the most important reason why DEI programs are critical not just to the engineering community, but to all of society. In our discussion of the pushback against DEI at the 2024 Engineering Ideas Institute, we heard several powerful examples of the impacts of discrimination on people’s lives. Surely, we can embrace the need for programs, like effective DEI programs focused on all people, which help us to move from the damaging impacts of discrimination to the positive impacts of opportunity while also helping us fulfill our critical role in society.
- National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Survey of College Graduates, selected year; U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2019.
