Strategies for Enhancing Ethnic and Gender Diversity in Engineering and Computer Science

April 29, 2004
Denice Denton | UW

This presentation will focus on successful strategies for recruiting and retaining an outstanding and diverse engineering workforce. Examples include best practices for proactive search processes that yield a strong and diverse applicant pool. In addition, specific examples are given regarding how to conduct equitable and effective interviews. Of course, recruiting a talented and diverse team is only the first step in creating a diverse workplace. The real challenge is retaining that talent. The University of Washington has a National Science Foundation ADVANCE award that focuses on advancing women faculty in math, science and engineering. This program includes leadership development, mentoring, policy transformation, cultural change and a transitional support program. The ADVANCE program and some preliminary outcomes are described.

Speaker Details

DR. DENICE D. DENTON is the Dean of Engineering and a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington . She was a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1987 to 1996. She spent the Fall Semester of 1991 as a visiting scientist and the summer of 1993 as a visiting professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. She received the B.S., M.S. (1982), and Ph.D. (1987) in Electrical Engineering from M.I.T. Her dissertation focused on the characterization of polyimide, a polymeric insulating material used in integrated circuits as an inter-metal insulator and passivant. Particular emphasis was placed on monitoring the effects of moisture on the dielectric properties of this film.Denton works extensively on engineering education reform. She chaired the NRC Board on Engineering Education (1996-1999), was a member of the NAS/NRC Committee on Undergraduate Science Education (1993-1997) http://www4.nas.edu/csmee/center.nsf>, and served on the NAE Committee on Engineering Education (1999-2001). Prof. Denton was co-director of the National Institute for Science Education in 1995-1996 . She currently directs the University of Washington’s NSF ADVANCE program. She has also won the UW Kiekhofer Distinguished Teaching Award (1990), and the Benjamin Smith Reynolds Teaching Award-UW College of Engr. (1994) and was a member of the Teaching Academy, UW-Madison (1994). In addition, she is the recipient of the American Society of Engineering Education AT&T Foundation Teaching Award (1991), the Eta Kappa Nu C. Holmes MacDonald Distinguished Young Elec. Engr. Teaching Award (1993), the W.M. Keck Foundation Engineering Teaching Excellence Award (1994), the ASEE George Westinghouse Award (1995), and the IEEE Harriet B. Rigas Teaching Award (1995). Prof. Denton has developed a Microfabrication Demonstration Kit which is being used in K-12 classrooms in more than 30 states to introduce students to microelectronics. She also works actively to encourage women and underrepresented minorities to consider careers in Science and Engineering.