A Joint AAAS/NACME Conference
Funding provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Thursday, January 15, 2004, and Friday, January 16, 2004 at,
AAAS
1200 New York Ave NW
Washington, DC 20005

Setting the Stage: The Policy Climate and Its Impact on Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Diversity

This is a conference about means, not ends. We all support a diverse workforce and the student body that will sustain it. As attorney Martin Michaelson writes, “To the extent that they have implications for affirmative action in faculty and staff recruitment, hiring, and promotion, in student aid, and in other areas, the [Supreme Court] decisions affect nearly every academic institution in the country.”

Race-conscious policies have been the law of the land since 1978. Without such sensitivity in college admissions decisions, higher education would simply reproduce historical inequities. So today we focus on strategies and practices: what works and why others should consider approaches they are not currently employing on their campuses and in their organizations.

Why science and engineering? Since the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) –45 years ago–these have been recognized as significant disciplines for the nation’s well-being, especially for federal investment at the graduate level. College-educated, graduate-trained people matter. If minorities and women participated in the science and engineering workforce proportional to their presence in the general population, there would be no U.S. talent gap. That is why a focus on science-technology-engineering-mathematics (STEM) at all levels of education is vital.

At a time when concepts such as academic selectivity, race surrogates, underrepresentation, critical mass, privilege, denial of rights, affirmative action, and discrimination are being renegotiated if not redefined, this conference will highlight issues, research, and data on demographics, enrollments, and degrees, while introducing the perspectives of academe, industry, and government on how policy and practice can promote the participation of all in science and engineering – interpreting the law, advancing the mission.

Finally, Justice O’Connor’s brief articulated a vision of an academic world 25 years hence without the need for measures that assure equal opportunity and treatment for all. Together we need to detail that vision with concrete actions, a timetable for progress, and collective strategies for sustaining a diverse corps of students, faculty, and knowledge workers circa 2030.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has joined NACME to plan and implement this conference. For questions about meeting logistics, contact Jolene at jjesse@aaas.org