Inclusive Excellence in Action

Aaron Nix Author

11/08/2023 Added

182 Plays

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Inclusive Excellence in Action video compilation produced for the 2023 University of Nebraska–Lincoln State of Diversity event. Learn more about the 2023 State of Diversity report here: https://diversity.unl.edu/state-diversity

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[00:00:00.250](soft piano music)
[00:00:17.125](mellow music)
[00:00:19.416]I've loved science my whole life,
[00:00:21.041]it's always been my favorite subject.
[00:00:23.041]I think that as a woman, often seeing other women
[00:00:25.333]in STEM is something that is very empowering
[00:00:27.833]because it's not something that we hear about very often.
[00:00:30.833]Oh yeah. I gotta go talk
[00:00:31.666]to the founder.
[00:00:32.500]Okay. Today, to see
[00:00:33.333]about recruiting students for the STEM-POWER Program.
[00:00:35.708]Oh, for next semester?
[00:00:37.291]I started working with the STEM-POWER this past summer,
[00:00:40.375]and I was partnered with Dr. Kristi Montooth,
[00:00:43.041]so I work with her in the Fly Lab.
[00:00:45.125]I think that the STEM-POWER program is definitely a focus
[00:00:47.416]on our inclusive excellence
[00:00:48.666]because it brings in underrepresented students
[00:00:50.833]from different communities and kind of allows them
[00:00:53.166]to get familiar with campus life as well as meeting mentors
[00:00:56.416]and faculty members that they could interact with
[00:00:59.166]throughout the school year and beyond that,
[00:01:01.416]and it kind of just helps them get to adjust
[00:01:03.625]to resources that they might not know
[00:01:05.916]that is available for them.
[00:01:08.708]As a first-generation student, it was really hard for me
[00:01:10.750]to find programs that foster an inclusive community,
[00:01:13.416]and the STEM-POWER did that with other students
[00:01:15.458]who I could also relate to.
[00:01:17.333]And I think that oftentimes, students feel
[00:01:19.166]like their voice is not heard.
[00:01:20.791]And I think that faculty members
[00:01:22.208]and campus leaders can just try to let students know
[00:01:25.541]that they have a voice and that their voice can be used
[00:01:28.416]to kind of, I guess, express and communicate the stuff
[00:01:31.166]that they need and the resources that they might need
[00:01:33.708]that faculty members may not know about.
[00:01:35.791]So I think giving students a community
[00:01:37.458]where they feel like their voice is heard
[00:01:39.000]is the most important way for us
[00:01:40.500]to talk about inclusive excellence.
[00:01:44.458]I think that's something
[00:01:45.291]that I'm really passionate about, is inspiring others
[00:01:48.041]to learn about their potential,
[00:01:49.916]especially young girls who often are not encouraged
[00:01:52.291]to go into fields like STEM and sciences.
[00:01:55.250]So it's something that I hope to achieve.
[00:01:56.875]And I also have a younger sister, so I wanna show her
[00:01:59.125]that this is possible and that she can achieve her dreams
[00:02:01.833]and that no one can tell her not to,
[00:02:03.416]because STEM is cool and it's cool for girls as well.
[00:02:06.458](mellow music)
[00:02:12.708]So the Intergroup Dialogue Project is part
[00:02:14.708]of our department's larger initiative on communicating
[00:02:17.583]to connect in a divided world.
[00:02:19.291]It includes courses that we teach, it includes scholarship
[00:02:23.416]and also, working on different projects
[00:02:25.541]or initiatives with the campus and the community.
[00:02:28.125]So I think we all know we live in a polarized world.
[00:02:30.833]We typically, are not really trying to take perspectives
[00:02:34.416]of other people's experiences of their sides,
[00:02:37.458]and we're also not amplifying voices of communities
[00:02:40.750]that historically, have been marginalized.
[00:02:43.166]And that's creating a lot of issues in society.
[00:02:45.708]And what this course tries to do is introduce students
[00:02:48.916]to the theories, the research
[00:02:51.041]and the practice of actually communicating
[00:02:53.000]across difference
[00:02:54.375]in a manner that amplifies voices of those
[00:02:58.083]who haven't had voices,
[00:02:59.750]and also, in a way that really can lead
[00:03:02.250]to pragmatic important outcomes.
[00:03:07.541]Now, we teach this as more than just talk.
[00:03:10.083]You can't just bring people together to talk.
[00:03:12.208]You have to think about the power structures
[00:03:14.916]that come into play.
[00:03:15.750]You have to think about how you can sustain these
[00:03:18.083]so they're not one-off interactions.
[00:03:20.666]And most importantly, you have
[00:03:21.625]to think about how can we make sure there are benefits
[00:03:24.875]and outcomes of this, especially
[00:03:26.333]when people are going to be vulnerable.
[00:03:30.333]I would ideally, like
[00:03:31.625]to see this project inform initiatives across Nebraska.
[00:03:36.541]So whether you're talking about conversations
[00:03:38.708]between different racial ethnic groups, religious group,
[00:03:41.541]rural and non-rural communities, really engage people
[00:03:45.041]across Nebraska to talk with each other,
[00:03:47.000]to learn from each other and better the state.
[00:03:52.125]We live in a polarized world,
[00:03:54.291]we're not talking to each other.
[00:03:55.625]And the only way I believe we're gonna be able to solve
[00:03:58.625]and address our most important issues is if
[00:04:00.875]we engage with each other.
[00:04:02.500]And that's the purpose of this initiative.
[00:04:07.625](insects chirping) (wind gusting)
[00:04:12.833]I can't fully explain it,
[00:04:14.708]but, people around the world are fascinated by birds.
[00:04:18.541]And you can see that from the stories people tell
[00:04:22.041]about the birds around them
[00:04:23.583]and their place in the world.
[00:04:25.375]Over the pandemic, it coincided
[00:04:27.541]with a lot of social movements
[00:04:31.583]about disparities among people and their experiences.
[00:04:35.416]And one of those was about actually, birds.
[00:04:39.291]So we recently got a grant
[00:04:40.666]through the National Science Foundation's program
[00:04:43.291]called BIO-LEAPS.
[00:04:44.666]So this is a grant designed
[00:04:46.250]to harness the unique position of professional societies
[00:04:49.416]in promoting inclusion.
[00:04:51.541]And so, we're studying various aspects
[00:04:54.125]of how having connections
[00:04:56.208]with people like themselves fosters a sense of belonging,
[00:05:00.458]how that can encourage them to pursue the love of research.
[00:05:05.791](Dr. Shizuka murmuring) (mellow music)
[00:05:07.875]So I'm really passionate about getting more people,
[00:05:12.166]specifically women of color, into STEM
[00:05:14.583]and science and field research.
[00:05:17.000]And I feel like birds were just
[00:05:18.875]that common thread of like, "everybody sees birds,
[00:05:22.500]everybody knows what birds are."
[00:05:24.541]So I feel like it's a really good gateway in a sense,
[00:05:27.625]to get people into just being outside
[00:05:30.291]and learning more about wildlife.
[00:05:31.916]And hopefully, it can spark some interest
[00:05:34.958]in some people to go more into STEM
[00:05:37.416]and science and research.
[00:05:38.833]Like here, where it's flat in the terrain,
[00:05:41.916]we don't have a (indistinct) of the ones.
[00:05:44.500]And out in the forest, back here,
[00:05:46.208]we study kind of how the social lives
[00:05:49.583]of birds help them survive these cold Nebraska winters.
[00:05:54.916]They form these really cool things
[00:05:56.291]called mixed-species flocks,
[00:05:57.958]social connections play a big part in animals' lives,
[00:06:01.750]not just humans.
[00:06:02.750]Do you have an extra?
[00:06:03.833]Yeah, we got- You got another set?
[00:06:05.375]We should have two sets.
[00:06:08.541]I actually owe a lot of my ideas
[00:06:12.166]and my thoughts about inclusion
[00:06:13.625]to the connections I've made at the university.
[00:06:16.708]By including everybody,
[00:06:18.916]it makes the university or ornithological societies
[00:06:24.000]or any institution, stronger.
[00:06:26.125]We can't really achieve excellence
[00:06:27.583]without promoting everyone's excellence, I guess.
[00:06:31.208]And to do that, everyone has to buy in
[00:06:34.208]and feel like they belong.
[00:06:36.166]A lot of what we talk about
[00:06:37.416]in ornithology now is this looming sense
[00:06:40.333]that we are losing the diversity of birds.
[00:06:43.125]And this is an all-hands-on-deck situation.
[00:06:45.833]And we can't afford to not include anyone that's got
[00:06:50.458]that passion and that interest in studying nature
[00:06:54.500]and conserving our natural legacy.
[00:06:57.333]And so, from that perspective,
[00:07:00.083]I think it's an urgent need
[00:07:02.875]to really include everyone so that we can solve some
[00:07:06.416]of these global problems.
[00:07:08.916](mellow music)
[00:07:12.875](electronic music)
[00:07:16.583]Inclusive excellence is important to engineering
[00:07:19.125]for two very simple reasons.
[00:07:20.916]First of all, if we're going to meet the workforce needs
[00:07:23.416]of the state and the nation,
[00:07:24.833]we need more people studying engineering.
[00:07:26.750]And that's only gonna happen
[00:07:28.250]if we diversify our student body.
[00:07:30.500]Secondly, it's been documented in several studies
[00:07:33.708]that diverse engineering teams are more productive
[00:07:36.291]and lead to better solutions.
[00:07:37.666]So industry is demanding a more diverse workforce.
[00:07:40.708]It's our job to provide that workforce, so it's important.
[00:07:48.875]We are one of only three colleges
[00:07:50.541]of engineering in the United States
[00:07:52.500]to have received silver recognition
[00:07:54.875]from the American Society of Engineering Education.
[00:07:57.708]We're very proud of that accomplishment,
[00:07:59.416]and other universities are coming to us
[00:08:02.000]to learn about what we did to earn that recognition.
[00:08:06.166]Among our initiatives with respect to inclusive excellence,
[00:08:09.875]include our complete engineer program
[00:08:12.333]that seeks to develop six non-technical competencies.
[00:08:16.375]They include things such as teamwork, communications,
[00:08:19.791]professional ethics and inclusive excellence.
[00:08:27.083]We have created several cohort programs
[00:08:28.958]to diversify our student body.
[00:08:31.375]This includes our Women in Engineering Program
[00:08:33.833]and our Multicultural Engineering Program.
[00:08:36.708]We've also partnered with the Peter Kiewit Foundation
[00:08:39.833]to create the Peter Kiewit Foundation Engineering Academy.
[00:08:43.666]This amazing program provides the complete cost of education
[00:08:47.375]for 40 students per year,
[00:08:49.416]and is focused on diversifying the engineering workforce.
[00:08:53.708]These are just some of the things that we are doing
[00:08:56.375]to broaden the diversity
[00:08:58.375]of students in the College of Engineering.
[00:09:05.416]We wouldn't have had the success we've had
[00:09:07.625]with respective inclusive excellence if it hadn't been part
[00:09:10.625]of a broader culture change in the college,
[00:09:13.000]and if that hadn't been fully embraced
[00:09:14.583]by our faculty, staff, and students.
[00:09:17.166]And we're fortunate
[00:09:18.041]that we are now a national leader in these efforts.
[00:09:20.666]People are looking to us
[00:09:22.166]to explore how they can have the similar change
[00:09:25.375]within their colleges.
[00:09:27.583]We have lots of work yet to do,
[00:09:29.500]but we're on the right track
[00:09:30.833]and our trajectory is really great.

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