WEPAN Newsletter April 2023

Apply for Travel Funding for the 2023 ADVANCE EiSCC

The ARC Network is excited to announce that, thanks to supplemental funding from NSF ADVANCE and The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation, we can offer travel grants to join us at the 2023 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening (ADVANCE EiSCC)!

Travel grants are intended to financially support faculty, administrators, and employees in attending the 2023 ADVANCE EiSCC so that they can engage in discussion, networking, and resource exchange centered on advancing intersectional gender equity in the STEM academy. In an intentional effort to support grantees who are often underfunded and excluded from such spaces, selection criteria will prioritize applicants who:

• are faculty, administrators, or employees from community and technical colleges, minority-serving institutions, or non-academic STEM equity focused organizations,
• have little or no travel funding,
• have not attended a national ADVANCE PI meeting before,
• are engaged in work that advances intersectional gender equity in academic STEM, and/or
• belong to a marginalized social group or groups in STEM, particularly women and gender expansive applicants who experience additional forms of marginalization.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and will close on May 9, 2023 at noon ET. We encourage applicants to submit their applications by April 30, 2023. Awardees will be notified by noon ET on May 10, 2023. Awardees must reserve their hotel rooms at the conference venue by 5pm ET on May 11, 2023.

Each travel grant will cover transportation, meals, lodging, registration, and relevant travel expenses. Apply for travel funding here.

If you have any questions, please contact arc@equityinstem.org. We look forward to seeing you at 2023 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening!

Funding for the travel grants has been provided by the National Science Foundation and The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation. The ADVANCE Resource and Coordination (ARC) Network is funded by the National Science Foundation ADVANCE Program, Awards HRD-2121468 and HRD-1740860, and seeks to achieve gender equity for faculty in higher education science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.

Events

News

ADVANCE EiSCC Room Block Closes May 11

Don't forget to reserve your room for the ADVANCE EiSCC! Taking place at the Washington Duke Inn at Durham, The convening group rate of $199 ends on Thursday, May 11 at 5pm ET. You can make your reservation here or by calling the hotel reservations department at (919) 490-0999 and requesting the Equity In Stem Community (Group ID: 964033) guest room block.

If you haven't yet registered for the ADVANCE EiSCC, there's still time! The complimentary annual conference registrations that are a part of institutional memberships will be applied to this conference. WEPAN members receive a $150 discount on the general registration price. A set of codes have been sent out to redeem complimentary or discounted registration.

Register for the ADVANCE EiSCC at https://registration.socio.events/e/equityinstemcc2023.

Free Online Patent Education Tool, the Inventor's Patent Academy

The Inventor’s Patent Academy (TIPA) was created to help people understand IP and prepare them to apply for their own patents.  The course also explores challenges inventors may face along the way and provides practical advice to overcome those challenges. TIPA is unique because it was designed specifically for diverse inventors and features videos of diverse inventors telling their invention and patenting stories.

The course is comprised of three modules, totaling ~6h of content.  Course takers are provided with completion certificates for each module.  Although the course is designed for individual inventors, instructors and those who work with inventors can also use it as a teaching tool.  

TIPA is available for free on the Invent Together website. See more and get your inventor's journey started at: https://bit.ly/3o5tOg0

Join NCWIT's Higher Learning Circles

The National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT ) provides FREE and customized professional development to computing departments seeking to diversify their student bodies, and is RECRUITING NOW for this program! The professional development takes place via NCWIT HigherEd Learning Circles.

Among other benefits, Learning Circle participants will receive guidance from an NCWIT HigherEd research scientist and facilitated access to NCWIT’s Tech Inclusion Journey for Undergraduate Programs. Joining a Learning Circle will also help departments identify goals and activities that make sense for their departmental context, leaving them well-prepared to develop and implement an NSF broadening participation in computing (BPC) plan!

You can learn more about the initiative on the Learning Circles webpage and express your interest by completing an interest form. NCWIT will form the Learning Circles this summer, so express your interest soon to secure your spot!

ASEE KnowlEDGE Change Team Application

Is your engineering department ready to take the next step toward a more equitable and transparent promotion and tenure process? Applications are now being accepted for the ASEE KnowlEDGE Initiative Change Team awards.

By creating opportunity for selected engineering department teams to become informed about, and supported in, the adoption of evidence-based DEI strategies, the KnowlEDGE Initiative will amplify awareness and adoption of equitable and inclusive practices so that more diverse talent will be involved in solving the complicated STEM issues we face now and in the future. Changes to enhance gender equity in academic engineering are frequently advocated, difficult to achieve, and rarely, if ever, facilitated through a multi-system endeavor. The ASEE KnowlEDGE Initiative invites you as department heads of mechanical engineering departments to submit proposals to adopt evidence-based DEI strategies focused on meaningful change.

Key components of the KnowlEDGE Initiative are funding and programming to support Change Teams in efforts to increase transparency in promotion and tenure (P & T). Each team will be awarded $20,000 ($10,000 per year for 2 years), to support self-study, evaluation by a third-party site visit team, action plan development & implementation. Eight change Teams will be selected over the life of the grant.

Apply now: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KnowlEDGEChangeTeamApplications will be accepted through May 10, 2023. Please note that part of the application requires you to submit metrics about the composition of your department based on race and gender, so we encourage you to begin compiling that information well in advance.

The PEER Group: Award Nominations Now Open

Built on the premise of ENGINEERING CHΔNGE^® Podcast, the ENGINEERING CHΔNGE^® Awards recognize individuals and organizations - in ALL disciplines (not just engineering) - that have demonstrated success in applying intentional, iterative strategies to effect sustainable, impactful change toward equitable opportunities and outcomes for people from all backgrounds and identities. ENGINEERING CHΔNGE^® Awards are managed by The PEER Group, LLC in conjunction with the PEER Groups' inaugural event, CONVERGE^SM.

All nominations must be submitted online using the ENGINEERING CH∆NGE® Awards Nomination Form. Self-nominations are welcome. Before submitting, the nominator must confirm that the nominee is aware of the nomination andthat the nominee is available (or will have a representative available) to accept the award in person in Baltimore, Maryland on the evening of Friday, August 4, 2023.

The deadline for nominations is May 15, 2023. Awardees and their nominators will be notified by June 9, 2023.

WEPAN Listserv

Do you have something to tell the WEPAN community? Remember that subscription to the WEPAN-L listserv is a member benefit! Share announcements, post publication opportunities, and collaborate with colleagues from different institutions and organizations on special projects.

To subscribe to the WEPAN-L listserv, visit: lists.purdue.edu/mailman/listinfo/wepan-l

Resources

Publications, reports, or communications relevant to women in engineering and STEM equity. All resources listed below are available in the ARC Network online resource library. If you need help accessing the library, please contact ARC Librarian Bethany Farmer at bethany@wepan.org.  

• Changing the Conversation: Messages for Improving Public Understanding of Engineering" by the National Academy of Engineering

"Can the United States continue to lead the world in innovation? The answer may hinge in part on how well the public understands engineering, a key component of the 'innovation engine'. A related concern is how to encourage young people--particularly girls and under-represented minorities--to consider engineering as a career option. Changing the Conversation provides actionable strategies and market-tested messages for presenting a richer, more positive image of engineering. This book presents and discusses in detail market research about what the public finds most appealing about engineering--as well as what turns the public off."

ARC Network

Funded by the National Science Foundation ADVANCE Program, Awards HRD-2121468 and HRD-1740860, the ADVANCE Resource and Coordination (ARC) Network seeks to achieve gender equity for faculty in higher education science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. WEPAN serves as the backbone organization of the ARC Network.‍

Webinar: Using Big Data and Algorithms to Foster Equity in STEM

Join the ARC Network on Wednesday, May 10 at 3pm ET for a webinar on "Using Big Data and Algorithms to Foster Equity in STEM."The ARC Network convened scholars from multiple disciplines for a two-day workshop to prioritize under-studied research questions under the general theme of "Using Big Data and Algorithms to Foster Equity in STEM." This theme was selected because of the ways in which big data and algorithms often perpetuate inequity, discrimination, and violence against people from marginalized communities.

This webinar features a panel of workshop planning committee members and workshop participants to discuss themes from the workshop and approaches to moving from research to action; Maria Goldshtein, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher, Arizona State University, Joan Herbers, Professor and Dean Emeritus, The Ohio State University; Jerry Marschke, Professor, Economics, University at Albany, SUNY, and Beth Mitchneck, Professor Emerita, University of Arizona.

Register for the webinar at: bit.ly/ERWBigData

The report is available at: https://www.equityinstem.org/blog/using-big-data-and-algorithms-to-foster-equity-in-stem

Join WEPAN

Want to encourage your institution to deepen its commitment to equity and excellence?

Consider becoming a 30 for 30 Institutional Champion Member. At this membership level, institutions have unlimited member representatives who get to dive into critical diversity, equity, and inclusion issues through custom workshops. These members also get the opportunity to strengthen their inclusive leadership capacity as part of the Equity and Excellence Council. Additional 30 for 30 Institutional Champion member benefits include:

• Professional Development
• Decades of resources in the WEPAN Knowledge Center
• Professional development webinars, including one featuring an invited speaker from your institution
• Free and discounted workshops, including one customized for your institution
• Free and discounted access to WEPAN’s Program Days
• Three annual convening registrations
• Communication & Networking
• WEPAN-L listserv
• Slack
• WEPAN member directory
• Social media spotlights of your institution
• Workforce
• Free and discounted job postings for your institution in WEPAN’s Career Center

Specific details regarding the member benefits listed above, please review the 30 for 30 Institutional Champion onboarding guide. For more information on how to become a 30 for 30 Institutional Member, please email membership@wepan.org.

Get Involved

Committees

We are looking for visionary members to join our committees and influence programming and member experiences. If you are interested in being a member of a WEPAN committee, please complete this survey: https://forms.gle/ZQyijAGNtPYYtNTV9

WIEP Slack Channel

Please join us on Slack to drive that connectivity across our membership during a critical time for connection. Join our Slack community today!

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