Diversity and Inclusion in Physics (DIP) invites you to our annual lecture on diversity in STEM fields, which is open to all members of the Penn community. The lecture will take place at 3:30 pm, Wednesday March 31st on Zoom.

Our speaker this year is Dr. Gina Quan from the department of Physics and Astronomy at San José State University (https://ginaquan.com/). Dr Quan’s research works towards improving equity and justice within undergraduate STEM education by improving understanding of culture, community and identity.

Talk title and abstract (flyer attached):

Cultivating Equity-Focused Institutional Change in University STEM Departments

Discipline-based education research has made great strides in understanding how to foster more equitable and effective teaching in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, there still has yet to be widespread adoption of reforms in university STEM departments. Our project seeks to understand how departments can implement sustainable, large-scale changes to undergraduate education. While these changes take many forms, they are grounded in six core principles, including upholding a commitment to equity, inclusion, and justice. We facilitate Departmental Action Teams (DATs), teams of faculty, students, and staff within a single STEM department working on some issue related to undergraduate education. During this talk, I will present an overview of the DAT model and the principles which guide our work. I will then present some empirical research discussing how to meaningfully develop student-staff-faculty partnerships while implementing departmental changes. Finally, I will discuss the multifaceted nature of complex equity-focused changes. 

At 3:00 pm on Thursday, April 1, there will be an opportunity for grad students and post docs to join a discussion with Dr Quan. The discussion will use the same zoom link as the lecture.

Please contact us, penn.dip@gmail.com with any questions.

Best,

DIP Leaders