Tag Archives | kris de welde

The College Today Features WGS Director’s Research That Aims to Close the Equity Gaps in Academic STEM

Kris De Welde

CofC’s The College Today is featuring WGS Director Prof. Kris De Welde’s research which aims to close the equity gaps in academic STEM. Read the article on CofC’s website or below!

Words by Mike Robertson:

A recent report from the American Association of University Women indicates that women make up only 28% of the workforce in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Even though women earn about half of science and engineering bachelor’s degrees, there are still large disparities across areas like computer science and mathematics. And, at the doctoral level, only 5% of doctoral degrees are earned by minority women.

These inequities drive the gender and racial equity gaps in some of the fastest-growing and highest-paid jobs, such as those in computer science and engineering. Kris De Welde wants to address those gaps.

De Welde, professor and director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the College of Charleston, is leveraging a $1.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Education and Human Resources Core Research program (EHR) for her research project, “ADVANCE and Beyond: Understanding Processes of Institutional Change to Promote STEM Equity and Education.”

Building on previous research that documents organizational interventions and strategies to promote gender equity in academic STEM fields, De Welde and research colleagues at the University of Colorado Boulder and Michigan State University are studying the organizational processes that are essential in creating what they call the “scaffolding” for successful change initiatives.

“There have been many, many studies about what it takes to create systemic change, and we know that it requires more than a single intervention,” says De Welde. “Change approaches have to be systemic, because we are really trying to revise institutional culture, as well as policies and practices. Interventions have to happen at multiple levels and using multiple levers.”

“Scaffolding processes” may include things like strategic communication strategies that reach multiple audiences, the use of theory to support change initiatives, and sustainability planning for the long-term viability of the project.

“Our goal is to not just uncover these processes,” says De Welde, “but to also test our understanding of how they work together alongside intervention strategies for institutional transformation.”

Since 2001, the NSF has invested over $270M to support ADVANCE Institutional Transformation program projects in an effort to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers. De Welde says these interventions have had a tremendous impact on many institutions and hence many individuals.

“While the initial focus is on women and minoritized individuals in STEM fields, the impact is much broader,” she says, adding that closing the intersectional equity gaps in academic STEM should be a universal goal. “When you create an institutional change initiative that brings equity to an institution, it benefits everyone.”

De Welde’s four-year research project began last year.

WGS Intersections: Dyani White Hawk A Conversation

Dyani White Hawk Panel Event

Join WGS and Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art on Thursday, Feb. 17th at 5:30 p.m. for another WGS Intersections! Don’t miss DYANI WHITE HAWK a Conversation. The panel will feature Lisa Collins (Wassamasaw Tribe), Beckee Garris (Catawba Nation), Chief Michelle Wise Mitchum (Pine Hill Indian Tribe), and Dana Muckelvaney (Edisto Natchez-Kusso Tribe). Moderators are Dr. Kris De Welde (Director & Prof. of WGS), Dr. Brennan Keegan (Religious Studies), and Dr. Annette Watson (Political Science).

This is a virtual event. Watch at halsey.cofc.edu/live. Free and open to the public.

About her exhibit HEAR HER (from Halsey’s website):
Dyani White Hawk’s work illuminates the lived experiences of Native Peoples. With her video, photography, and works in other media, she aims to use language of visual art to bring light to the chasm between our understanding of history and the truth. Her work weaves together forms from the canon of Western art along with the visual languages and traditions of Native people. In doing so, her work spotlights Native women, whose strength and fortitude through centuries of colonization have helped their people’s languages and cultures to survive.

On view in Hear Her, White Hawk’s video installation LISTEN presents a series of Native women speaking the language of their people. Each film takes place on the land of each participant’s nation, and viewers hear the respective languages without translation. As such, White Hawk puts a focus not only on the resonance of each speaker, but she also reveals society’s collective ignorance of the people, culture, and language of those native to the land on which we live. Chapter 1 of LISTEN features eight videos and White Hawk plans to continue the series to include 24 videos. The Halsey Institute commissioned White Hawk to create a video to honor the Catawba Nation, located in South Carolina.

White Hawk’s photography installation I Am Your Relative confronts the gross stereotypes and distorted caricatures that dehumanize and commodify Native women. This installation, along with LISTEN, helps White Hawk shine a light on the misrepresentation of Native Peoples while reinforcing the fact that we are all connected as human beings.

Dyani White Hawk: Hear Her is sponsored in part by South Carolina Humanities, a not-for-profit organization; inspiring, engaging and enriching South Carolinians with programs on literature, history, culture and heritage. This exhibition is also supported by the Center for Sustainable Development at the College of Charleston, which provides students with the opportunities and resources to engage in our community sustainably.


Image Credit: @dwhitehawk in Collaboration with photographer Tom Jones, “I Am Your Relative” [detail], 2020, photo sculpture, © Dyani White Hawk. Courtesy of the artist and Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis, MN.

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