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University of Akron College of Engineering professors Dr. Teresa Cutright and Dr. Judit Puskas have received funding from NSF for a workshop designed to increase underrepresented minorities who enter graduate school and pursue academic careers. Numerous studies have focused on the issues facing underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, but little focus has been placed on attracting and retaining underrepresented minorities into academic careers.

“Women and ethnic minorities often do not persist in academia for many reasons, including a lack of opportunities for mentoring,” says Dr. Cutright, associate professor of civil engineering. “Although it is more pronounced at the faculty level, this leads to higher attrition rates at every level of career development, starting at the undergraduate level.”

The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) compiled data for all engineering degrees in 2012 and reported that underrepresented ethnic minorities held 12.6 percent of B.S. degrees, 7.9 percent of M.S. and 4.6 percent of the Ph.D.'s, and less than 10 percent of the faculty positions. Similarly, although women hold 18.4 percent of the B.S degrees and 22 percent of the Ph.D.'s, only 13 percent of the faculty were women; of which only 8.7 percent held the rank of full professor.

In collaboration with the University of Houston and Mississippi State University, the workshop will be held at ÐãÉ«¶ÌÊÓƵ on October 30-31, 2014 with identical workshops held at the other institutions later in the fall and in the spring.

Workshop topics include:

• Future Faculty Forum: What is Assistant Professorship
• Time Management
• Mastering the Science of College STEM Teaching
• Culturally Responsive Teaching in STEM
• Mentoring/career coaching
• Graduate School 101
• Roundtable/Panel Discussion
• Networking Activities
• Transitions and Being Proactive

The workshop is free and open to all engineering seniors, graduate students, post-docs and non-tenured faculty.