ADEP: Asset-Driven Equitable Partnerships (WIP)

The mission of the Inclusive Engineering Consortium (IEC) is to enable MSI ECE programs to produce more and better prepared graduates from groups that have been historically underrepresented in ECE careers. We hypothesize that the key to achieving this goal is more fully engaging the students, staff and faculty at HBCUs, HSIs and TCUs in the broad ECE education and research enterprise by building partnerships with PWIs, industry, government labs, etc. These partnerships must be equitable with all voices being heard and all relevant assets identified and utilized. The equitable partnership concept came out of a series of IEC workshops in 2021 that addressed Anti-Racism Practices in Engineering. Since that time, we have been applying the ideas developed and collecting feedback, particularly on barriers to their effective use. Anti-Racism Practices in Engineering should apply to students, staff and faculty in all activities in an ECE program. However, we have focused on research because it is THE activity that is the most underdeveloped at most MSIs and the primary reason why groups from PWIs usually contact MSIs. MSIs need investment. People at PWIs must engage with their counterparts at MSIs so they will learn how to more effectively mentor, teach, and guide students from MSIs. Both types of institutions must invest in each other. Equitable partners must be able to identify and articulate their assets and understand the assets of other participants. Finally, partnerships only work if there is sufficient trust, which comes from knowledge of and engagement with one another.