STEM Education Programs Receives INSIGHT Into Diversity Magazine’s 2021 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award
Today, University of Southern California (USC) Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences’s Joint Educational Project (JEP)’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Programs received the 2021 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the largest and oldest diversity and inclusion publication in higher education. The Inspiring Programs in STEM Award honors colleges and universities that encourage and assist students from underrepresented groups to enter the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The USC JEP STEM Education Programs will be featured, along with 78 other recipients, in the September 2021 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.
Inspiring Programs in STEM Award winners were selected by INSIGHT Into Diversity based on efforts to inspire and encourage a new generation of young people to consider careers in STEM through mentoring, teaching, research, and successful programs and initiatives.
“Our programs highly prioritize diversity, equity, access and inclusion in all aspects of our programming including our hiring practices, our culturally relevant and responsive curriculum, which is also available in Spanish, and by offering free STEM programming to low-income elementary students of color in the South Los Angeles area” says Dr. Dieuwertje “DJ” Kast, the director of STEM Education Programs of the Joint Educational Project.
INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine selected the USC JEP STEM Education Programs because the programs reach students that are economically disenfranchised; on average, 87% of students attending JEP’s partner schools are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, a proxy for lower socioeconomic status. In addition, nearly all of the participating students come from underrepresented and historically excluded racial and ethnic groups in the sciences; the demographics of the K-5 students that participate in JEP’s STEM programs are approximately 82% Latinx and 12.6% African American. Additionally, 52% of the students are female. JEP specifically works with this population in order to accelerate towards a time when the STEM workforce matches the diversity of American society. Furthermore, approximately 36% of students in the program are identified as English Language Learners (ELL), and on average 98% of the participating ELL students speak Spanish. To ensure that culturally-sensitive pedagogy is implemented and to address the needs of the ELL students, all curricular materials are translated into Spanish. In addition to exposing children to advanced scientific fields and concepts at an early age, the program also serves to introduce students to professionals in specific STEAM fields. This offers socially and culturally diverse role models in science with the ultimate goal of encouraging these students to pursue their own scientific education and endeavors.
JEP’s STEM Education Programs were especially successful this year in focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion when it comes to hiring undergraduate and graduate students. The STEM Program staff consists of staff that are predominantly women in STEM and identify as BIPOC. Some of the details and numbers are below:
- 20% of the staff are USC Neighborhood Academic Initiative (NAI) scholars. Students from the same neighborhood as the students we serve who have participated in these programs as elementary students. These NAI scholars went through the NAI program, then pursued STEM degrees and are now teaching STEM subjects in their own community, sometimes even in the school that they themselves attended. This epitomizes the goal of our programs.
- 70% of the STEM staff identify as women in STEM.
- 72% of the STEM staff identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, or Person of Color)
- 30% of the staff are bilingual in Spanish to support the English Language Learners
“We know that many STEM programs are not always recognized for their success, dedication, and mentorship for underrepresented students,” says Lenore Pearlstein, owner and publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. “We want to honor the schools and organizations that have created programs that inspire and encourage young people who may currently be in or are interested in a future career in STEM. We are proud to honor these programs as role models to other institutions of higher education and beyond.”