A Mission for Inclusive Excellence in STEM

What would it take to create and maintain a safe, equitable, and supportive teaching and learning environment where all students, faculty, administrators and staff are deeply invested, empowered, supported and capable of providing the tools and resources that allow every student to feel valued as individuals, included, connected, supported and confident in their ability to succeed in their own STEM pathway?

At Elon, we are resolved to answer this question.

In fall 2022, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute awarded Elon University a six-year, $377,800 Inclusive Excellence 3 (IE3) grant to join a consortium of higher education institutions to transform STEM education for diversity, equity and inclusion. A team of faculty and staff at Elon is part of a 14-member SCIENCE Collaborative (Student-Centered Institutional Enhancement and Co-learning Exchange) advancing inclusion and belonging in first-year STEM experiences, assessing student outcomes and pedagogical approaches, and creating opportunities for faculty and staff professional development in inclusive excellence in STEM teaching.

HHMI’s funding provides opportunities for faculty and staff to innovate and lead initiatives at Elon and across these institutions. Learn more about some pilot projects and programs happening at Elon.

Elon faculty and staff can apply for a mini-grant of up to $500 to develop projects that enhance inclusive excellence and support student success and sense of belonging in STEM. Projects should relate to introductory level students and courses rather than only disciplinary majors. Submissions are reviewed the 15th of each month. Additional information is on the mini-grant application page. Questions? Contact Elon’s HHMI IE3 team.

 

Projects in the SCIENCE Collaborative

Elon faculty are partnering with 13 other institutions in the SCIENCE Collaborative to affect systemic change in STEM pedagogy and outcomes.

Learn more about projects Elon faculty and staff are piloting.

Fostering Inclusive Excellence through Learning Communities: Featuring HHMI Biointeractive Inclusive Excellence Massive Open Online Course

A professor leads a seminar for faculty and staff in Hunt AtriumElon University is partnering with Simmons University to create learning communities for faculty and staff interested in completing an online inclusive teaching course, created by Dr. Bryan Dewsbury.

Collaborators will partner to assess:

  • The outcomes of the learning community participation on potential increases understanding of inclusive teaching practices, potential increases metacognitive awareness, likelihood of dissemination of inclusive teaching strategies to department colleagues;
  • Faculty motivation in engaging in this work; and
  • Perceived barriers that keep faculty from making sustained meaningful changes in their teaching practices.

Lifting Student Voices: Developing Sustainable Methods to Enhance STEM-Inclusive Pedagogy

Three students test a design prototype in front of Founders HallElon’s IE3 team is collaborating with colleagues at four institutions to collect student feedback and experiences in introductory STEM courses using survey methodology and focus-groups conducted at each campus.

The goal is to examine students’ sense of self-efficacy, scientific identity, perception of value alignment between STEM disciplines and their own values. Another goal of the project is providing survey and focus-group resources to other institutions interested in collecting student feedback using qualitative research methodologies.

Partners: Elon University, Xavier University, Otterbein University, Hamilton University and Simmons University