Program administrators must be intentional when hiring faculty and selecting electives in order to hire faculty the students will be able to relate to, perceive as role models, and who will be able to provide students in higher education in prison (HEP) programs with knowledge about racial issues in our society often from personal experience.…

Naturalists enrich our scientific understanding of biodiversity. However, just as countries have fallen behind on commitments to provide biodiversity conservation funding, so has the focus of life science stayed arm's length. The purpose of this article is to consider why biodiversity should be the center of life sciences education and how…

Economics has a well-documented problem with diversity. Literacy-targeted (LT) courses designed for a broader spectrum of students have the potential to help address the underrepresentation of women and racial/ethnic minorities in the discipline. The authors of this article explore how, by using the LT approach, introductory economics instructors…

We detail our experience running an annual four-day workshop at the University of Minnesota, called the Mathematics Project at Minnesota (MPM). The workshop is for undergraduates who come from groups underrepresented in mathematics and aims to increase the participation and success of such groups in the mathematics major at the University. In this…

Systems thinking, interdisciplinary research projects, and creative problem solving are ways to frame modern chemistry curricula to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, teachers, and citizens to use their skills and education to create a sustainable future. By integrating planetary boundaries, green chemistry, and the UN…

Black male teachers are less than two percent of all current teachers in the United States. However, there has been an effort to recruit and retain Black men into the teaching profession for a number of reasons. All students benefit when they have a Black male teacher. Black boys, in particular, have markedly higher test scores and improved…

It is no secret that particular populations of Americans, specifically minorities, women, and students from high-poverty schools and districts, are underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) jobs (Presidents' Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2010). In the 21st century, technology drives innovation…

The share of women achieving tertiary education has increased rapidly over time and now exceeds that of men in most OECD countries. However, women are severely under-represented in maths-intensive science fields, which are generally referred to as STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths). The under-representation of women in these…

Stella M. Flores writes about how she learned to participate in the American political process through lessons from her immigrant family. As a quantitative scholar, she documents the commitment to rigorous, evidence-based research on equity noting that not all datasets are without politics or bias. From this perspective, the story of the Latino in…

Of all the challenges we face in education today, the author can think of none greater than the challenge of motivating, educating, and empowering black male learners. The fact that this group of students is in crisis is evident on multiple levels, starting with graduation rates. According to the Schott Foundation (2008), the U.S. high school…

The science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce is crucial to America's innovative capacity and global competitiveness. Yet women are vastly underrepresented in STEM jobs and among STEM degree holders despite making up nearly half of the U.S. workforce and half of the college-educated workforce. That leaves an untapped opportunity…

Last year, when students at Ridgecrest Intermediate School in Palos Verdes, California, were asked to name scientists, their answers--Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Bill Nye the Science Guy--reflected a common perception. Most of the leading scientists they came up with were white, male, or dead. Although women and people of…

The central role played by textbooks in children's education in developing countries has been highlighted previously in this journal. This paper reports on how an English-language textbook used commonly in Ugandan secondary schools reinforces gender stereotypes which are prevalent in society. The paper is based on a mixed-methods investigation of…

This article discusses why rising fees for graduate programs at University of California campuses threaten to undermine growth of underrepresented minorities (URMs) in health-science and other professions. Dental student Hector Godoy easily relates to his patients at a University of California, Los Angeles clinic. Like many of them, Godoy never…

Latino males are more likely to drop out of high school and are more likely not to finish college. While the number of Latino males enrolled in colleges and universities has increased in the last 20 years, it has not kept pace with that of other ethnic groups. In addition, the gap between the number of male and female Hispanics on the nation's…