During the summer, three COS faculty members attended the Teaching to Increase Diversity and Equity in STEM (TIDES) Institute organized by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) to learn new ways to promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the classroom and beyond, making all STEM students feel welcome, safe, and accepted at UNT and the greater scientific community.

Drs. Amy Petros, Purnima Neogi, and Zacchaeus Compson each attended the institute, which was designed for STEM faculty and administrators who have reached or are nearing a tipping point in building their capacity for integrating cultural responsiveness into their teaching strategies.

"As STEM faculty, we are data driven. We look at the demographics of students passing our introductory STEM courses and it does not reflect the ratios in our population. Why does race have such an impact on whether a student passes a gateway course?" asked Dr. Amy Petros, researcher and professor of UNT Chemistry. "STEM courses have much lower pass rates than other introductory courses and when a student doesn't pass their intro course on the first attempt, they often change majors. We are losing talented students who don't have the background preparation to hit the ground running in a first-year science major course."

The AAC&U TIDES Institute curriculum is derived from an evidence-based, professional development model, offering a unique opportunity for STEM faculty to build capacity and self-efficacy in understanding the root causes of minority group underrepresentation in STEM and their unique role in addressing them. Through uniquely designed presentations and experiential activities, as well as expert-guided discussions and peer mentoring, the Institute overcomes the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach to STEM faculty professional development.

Dr. Purnima Neogi is a lecturer-advisor in the Department of Biological Sciences. "We have a significant number of transfer students at UNT, and through the AAC&U 2021 TIDES Institute, I learned how to better facilitate minority and transfer students to succeed in the university environment," she said. "The role of community colleges in STEM education is very important, so partnering with them will help students be successful at UNT and with their future career goals. I am now working with the Biological Sciences advising team on a community college transfer student success initiative."

Dr. Zacchaeus Compson, an assistant professor who runs a research lab examining how food webs are impacted by human change, was interested in learning DEI-focused mentoring strategies that can be applied both in the classroom and the lab.

"Some of the most impactful teaching I do occurs in the lab and field, where I mentor students to be successful scientists in a variety of career paths. Up until my involvement in TIDES, I had no formal training in ways of promoting DEI in STEM education and training, and I was eager to learn what role I could play in helping my lab foster a positive, inclusive community at UNT," said Dr. Compson. "A key lesson I learned at TIDES is that the first step is to start with yourself, to examine your own hidden biases and assumptions that are part of your own unique experience. There is no single procedure for ending inequity in STEM, as it is a systemic problem that requires action on all levels, from system-wide policy changes to normalizing a culture of acceptance and inclusion in our individual labs and classrooms. However, we are not alone in this; we are part of an ecosystem that can grow, change, feedback, and inform its connected parts, and this view of our scientific community is powerful because it means that the first step is simply to start practicing the values of DEI that UNT promotes. By intentionally taking that step--of self-examination, curriculum modification, and normalizing DEI conversations--we are engaging our diverse and growing scientific community, an ecosystem we change through participation, and that changes us through feedback and new ideas."

All three professors noted feeling more prepared and empowered to make changes in their classrooms, labs, and departments after the institute, which promotes both accountability to self and others as a unifying theme that lends itself to culturally responsive teaching in STEM.

"I learned new approaches to integrate DEI practices with traditional teaching," said Dr. Neogi, "Including being proactive about recognizing and celebrating diversity in the classroom, constructing examples of lessons that are relevant to, and reflect, our diverse classrooms, and making space for difficult conversations that show students the classroom is a safe space where all students are valued and are intentionally included."

"The TIDES Institute confirmed the work I've been doing since 2019: this work matters," said Dr. Petros. "With the additional support and resources from the conference, we can share these successes with other faculty and offer training for all willing faculty. Our Team Mentoring Grant from the Provost also demonstrates the support from our administration in regards to working with our faculty to better support our students."

Beyond applying the lessons of TIDES to their own classrooms and communities, Drs. Petros, Neogi, and Compson desire to share these ideas and values with the scientific community at UNT and are planning several engagement events this fall, including a faculty discussion and a student-centered, DEI-themed townhall event. Stay tuned for more information about these events and other related projects on our website or by connecting with the UNT College of Science on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.