WEPAN Newsletter July 2023

ACCESS+ Offers a Free DEI Self-Assessment for Professional Societies

The Amplifying the Alliance to Catalyze Change for Equity in STEM Success (ACCESS+) is excited to offer the Equity Environmental Scanning Tool (EEST) for free under a Creative Commons license. The EEST is a comprehensive DEI self-assessment tool. In addition to assisting professional societies in discerning both strengths and areas for attention, it also centralizes data and provides direction for actionable changes.

“We hope this self-assessment tool will help professional societies with their organizational DEI change work as they determine their areas of growth and strength,” says Dr. Ershela Sims, PI of ACCESS+ and Executive Director of WEPAN.

The EEST is comprised of three sections. The first section is organized according to twelve functional areas that are typical of society operation, such as membership and publishing. The second section asks for information on a series of DEI performance measurement questions for each of the twelve areas. The third section consists of open-ended questions to identify society DEI successes and challenges.Read the press release and download the EEST at at: https://accessplusstem.com/products/‍

Events

News

If You Have Not Yet Done So, Renew Your Membership Today

It is time to renew your WEPAN membership! Each of our members is an important part of a unique, enterprising network of advocates and leaders dedicated to advancing cultures of inclusion and diversity in engineering. Renew your membership today to ensure that you can continue to enjoy your member benefits with WEPAN! Your Individual Member benefits include:

• Professional Development
• Access to the Women in STEM Knowledge Center, the premier online resource for research, best practices and professional communities dedicated to advancing diverse communities of women in engineering and STEM.
• Access to timely and relevant professional development webinars, both live and recorded.
• A free or reduced rate for WEPAN workshops.
• A free or reduced rate for WEPAN Program Days.
• Discount registration for the CoNECD conference and ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening
• Career Center
• WEPAN's Career Center allows you to search for jobs for free. WEPAN members also enjoy discounted Career Center services.

To renew, simply login to wepan.org with your username and password, select "Manage Profile,” and then select "Renew Membership Now

2024 SciComm Identities Project Fellowship

Join the University of Rhode Island’s Metcalf Institute, Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, and the URI Science & Story Lab for a year-long fellowship to develop your voice and skills as a science communicator through a variety of mediums, including podcasting! SCIP is designed to test a novel science communication training curriculum based in intercultural communication and culturally relevant pedagogy.

Pre-tenure faculty from underrepresented ethnic and racial backgrounds at U.S. academic institutions, who study issues related to water and climate change are invited to apply. Applications are encouraged from varied disciplines in social and natural sciences and engineering. Fellows receive a stipend of $5,000 for their commitment, split in two payments after the two required in-person workshops.

Apply by September 18, 2023. The 2024 Fellowship runs January-December, 2024. Read more and apply at https://scicommidentities.org/fellowship/

ADVANCE EiSCC Conference Materials Available

Conference materials from the 2023 ADVANCE EiSCC have been uploaded to the ARC Network Resource Library! You can access all presentations and posters from this year and the 2022 convening.

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.  

• "Why do women leave engineering?" by P. Dizikes

"Women who go to college intending to become engineers stay in the profession less often than men. Why is this? While multiple reasons have been offered in the past, a new study co-authored by an MIT sociologist develops a novel explanation: The negative group dynamics women tend to experience during team-based work projects makes the profession less appealing."

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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.‍

Read and Give Feedback on the Latest ARC Emerging Research Workshop Reports

The two latest reports from the ARC Network's Emerging Research Workshops have been released. The reports, "Using Big Data and Algorithms to Foster Equity in STEM" and "Cultivating Equity In STEM Through Inclusive Language," cover research and promising practices on each of the topics and suggest new directions for future work. We invite the community to share their expertise on the topics. To read the reports and share your input visit https://www.equityinstem.org/about-emerging-research-workshops
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Institutional WEPAN Membership

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

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

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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