Presented by University of Missouri–St. Louis, New York University, University of Nebraska Omaha
Lightning presentations are roughly seven minutes in length and are paired with others into a single session. Timestamps are indicated in parentheses so you can forward to the presentation you want to view.
- Mapping the way to innovative, effective and equitable policy (00:00)
Presented by Will Werner, University of Missouri–St. Louis
In 2024, the $1.7 billion “Next” National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency West (N2W) will open its new headquarters on 97 acres in historic St. Louis Place, an underdeveloped neighborhood in North St. Louis with high levels of poverty and decades of disinvestment. N2W represents the largest federal investment in St. Louis history and will complement the existing National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) campus, located just a few miles away. The establishment of N2W arrives with tremendous potential to create a geospatial innovation hub in the St. Louis region, to grow diverse talent pipelines from our most underserved communities to meet the needs of geospatial employers, to advance geospatial research and entrepreneurism, and to strengthen the neighborhoods surrounding N2W. These opportunities are interconnected. To build a geospatial innovation hub, the region must take bold steps now to address critical skill gaps, to ensure equity and inclusion in talent pipelines, and to advance community-led development work in the neighborhoods surrounding N2W. The Geospatial Collaborative at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) is poised to be a driving force in helping the St. Louis region realize its potential as the nation’s leading hub for geospatial innovation.
As a major player in the burgeoning geospatial ecosystem in St. Louis, the GEOINT Symposium is an excellent opportunity to illustrate that UMSL is exceptional in its efforts to build capacity in underserved areas of the city, while developing opportunities for the youth that will be filling those critical jobs in the future. UMSL is having an impact on the geospatial ecosystem in several ways including: Leading the partnership with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to develop effective K-16 educational programs; Working to develop the next generation of geospatial professionals; and Creating research projects in diverse fields of study, illustrating the ubiquity of geospatial techniques and their impact.
Related link: UMSL Geospatial Collaborative: Mapping the way to innovative, effective and equitable policy
- Leading DEI initiatives at departmental levels: An NYU example (11:28)
Presented by Wilnelia Gutierrez, New York University
As members of the central unit responsible for NYU’s internal and external communications, community engagement, university-wide events, and government relations, the University Relations and Public Affairs (URPA) DEI Working Group collaborates to ensure that NYU’s commitment to building and strengthening a university-wide culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion is realized and supported across the division and that the values of the committee are reflected in our work.
Our work is advanced across subcommittees focused in the areas of: Education & Development, Coaching & Volunteering, Communications and Storytelling, Standards & Accountability, and Hiring and Onboarding. Participation in this working is invitational and we encourage participation from all members across the division resulting in a multiplicity of skills, perspectives and interests. Drawing on the resources provided to us centrally by the Office of Global Inclusion, as well as external sources, we provide pathways into DEI work that feel relatable to our professional roles, remaining committed to discomfort over inaction. Our work together focuses on elevating our institutional values and expectations for engagement in an environment that promotes, diversity, equity and inclusion.
This Lightening Session will discuss how the URPA Working Group was formed, its structure, its goals and successes to date, and future plans. Participants will takeaway lessons learned on how to advance internal DEI initiatives within complex university structures to ensure systemic change is truly being integrated and realized.
Related link: University Relations and Public Affairs
- Removing implicit bias in student evaluations of teaching: observations of high-impact classroom practices (22:15)
Presented by Christopher Moore, Sarah Edwards, and Tracie Reding, University of Nebraska Omaha
We present on progress made in developing a student evaluation of teaching (SET) inventory that is free of implicit bias, instructor-actionable, and reliable across student evaluators. Our approach has focused on elevating faculty doing the “invisible work” disproportionately done by minorities and/or women that evidence demonstrates is required for underrepresented student success, but is rarely rewarded by traditional university structures. In particular, SETs focused on the affective-domain have been criticized for being race and gender biased and for failing to measure the underlying construct: teaching effectiveness. For example, although research-validated high-impact teaching practices (HIPs) are more likely to be used in courses with minority and/or women instructors in a variety of fields, this population often scores lower on SETs, which are frequently used in personnel decisions. To construct an anti-racist and anti-sexist SET, we started with the Teaching Practices Inventory (TPI), which is a validated instructor self-report of research-based HIPs usage. Language was modified to turn the TPI into a student observation protocol, where over the course of 15 prompts students identify HIPs used in the course. In contrast to affective-domain SETs, the student-reported modified TPI was designed to minimize subjective judgements. Either a student did or did not observe a specific practice. Initial face validity of the SET has been established via student focus groups and clarity surveys (N = 22), and reliability and congruent validity studies are ongoing. Preliminary results from faculty self-reports (N = 92) using the modified TPI show higher use of HIPs by minorities and/or women, as expected from the literature. Moving towards an anti-racist and anti-sexist SET promotes structures that incentivise the types of work that must be done to build an inclusive and diverse university and to retain top talent, especially those utilizing HIPs. Key takeaways will be a generative framework for development of a SET with significantly reduced implicit bias, and the change process being utilized at a large metropolitan research university for adoption of bias-free SETs via shared-governance.