Responding to the underrepresentation of minority women in STEM fields, UMBC has joined a new national collaborative committed to supporting educational opportunities for girls and women of color in STEM.
The White House Council for Women and Girls announced the formation of the National STEM Collaborative at a special event at the White House on September 15, 2015 (watch video).
In addition to UMBC, the consortium, led by Arizona State University, consists of 19 institutions of higher education and nonprofit partners, including Amherst College, City College of New York, Diné College, Maricopa Community Colleges, Spelman College, University of Alabama, University of California-Riverside, and Harvard University.
In response to the announcement Provost Rous said, “Our participation in the consortium reflects UMBC’s established national reputation for supporting students from all backgrounds. At the national level, it provides an opportunity to share the best practices and innovative ideas we have developed to promote greater educational opportunities for women of color who are underrepresented in many fields, including the STEM disciplines.”
Over the next 3-5 years the collaborative will focus on providing analysis and information on best practices to support women and girls in STEM in educational settings; develop networking resources to help talented students enter and persist in STEM programs; and determine best practices to support women of color transitioning from community college to four-year university STEM programs.
The National STEM Collaborative emphasizes, “Our mission is not to simply populate the STEM pipeline with more women of color. Rather we seek to provide institutions, students, leaders, corporations, and organizations the skills and resources to change the pipeline to be more equitable for more underrepresented women.”
