Carnegie Mellon University

Eberly Center

Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation

Past Provost’s Inclusive Teaching Fellows

2022-2023 Provost’s Inclusive Teaching Fellows

College of Fine Arts

Kim Beck headshotKim Beck
Associate Professor
Art
Course: 60-379: In Their Own Words - Artists Writing

 


DEI Goal:
Allowing students to express their different perspectives in ways that mirror their interests and backgrounds.

This class is for everyone who wants to read the ideas and language of artists, such as 'zines, poetry, prose, academic writing, memoir, and the things that defy categorization. We read artists' writings to situate ourselves among a community of people who walked before us through the challenges of making art. Students respond to these works as well as create their own texts, 'zines or essays to sit alongside or inside their own practice. My project is designed to promote more inclusive discussions among students. I also hope to help them recognize and take pride in their own intersectional identities, develop a respect for difference and an understanding of the complex systems that shape us as artists. The class highlights writings and works of a broad range of artists, including BIPOC, Queer, people with disabilities, people with diverse immigration status, and people from a variety of economic backgrounds. Students meet in discussion sections and as a full class and they have flexibility in the ways they present their work to the class.


College of Engineering

Corey Harper headshotCorey Harper
Assistant Professor
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Heinz School of Information Systems and Public Policy
Course: 94-802/12-783: Geographical Information Systems



DEI Goal: 
Creating an environment that welcomes diverse perspectives, enriching classroom discussion and learning.

This course is a software-based course, which teaches students how to use analytical tools to investigate spatial relationships, patterns, and processes of economic, social, environmental, healthcare, crime, and transportation phenomena. My project is designed to teach students about equity and equality concepts in geospatial analysis and to promote a more inclusive learning environment. I am adding a course module to teach students about equality and equity and the different metrics for measuring these parameters across a region. So that students can gain additional practice independently, I am integrating these concepts into the homework questions  Additionally, I am integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion into the final group project by teaching best practices for inclusive teamwork. To assess learning gains, I am using a survey to ask students about their knowledge of distributional equity and equality at the beginning and end of semester.



Fethiye Ozis headshotFethiye Ozis
Assistant Teaching Professor
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Course: 12-100 Exploring CEE: Infrastructure and  Environment in a Changing World


 


DEI Goal: 
Creating a space where all students feel engaged, heard, and valued to support students to achieve a growth mindset, develop a sense of belonging, and improve retention especially from underrepresented populations.

My class is a first year Civil and Environmental Engineering course, required for all CEE students and also taken by other engineering students as an elective. The course introduces the discipline by blending lectures with three hands-on projects including project management, civil engineering and structures, and environmental engineering emphasis. My aim for the students is to embrace a growth mindset, speak freely, and continue with their journey of learning so that they may find their place in engineering as well. I also hope to build and cultivate a positive rapport between myself and the students and a mindset to promote belonging. To accomplish my goals, I promote discussions during class, I use growth mindset terminology blended in lessons and feedback, and I train project teams on communication skills by using CollabU. We are assessing our project through pre and post surveys, looking at students’ mindset, belonging in the discipline, and group work preferences.


Ryan Sullivan headshotRyan Sullivan
Professor
Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry
Course: 24-291, 24-381, 09-291, 09-381: Environmental Systems on a Changing Planet (plus STEM Addendum)



DEI Goal:
Fostering a strong sense of student belonging in environmental science regardless of what discipline students are coming from.

This is an introductory course to the interdisciplinary field of environmental science that explores how complex natural environmental systems function and thus support all life, and how human societies are interfering with environmental systems. My project focuses on effectively teaching the diverse range of student discipline backgrounds present in this course where STEM and non-STEM majors explore environmental science together. A 3-unit STEM Addendum course was created to allow STEM majors to explore the science and engineering topics covered in the main course to more technical and quantitative depth while still having all students learning together in the main course. I use a learn before lecture pedagogy throughout so that students are prepared to discuss questions posed to them that help them assess their understanding of the key concepts. I also ask them to submit their muddiest points from each week so we can address those questions. To promote healthy open dialogue during class we first discuss what the goals of engaging in dialogue versus debate or even discussion are.  We then use dialogue as students respond to opening questions on each unit and questions on the pre-class material they had watched and read, as well as in response to discussion prompts on the Canvas forum. Clicker poll questions are also used to allow the entire class to respond. The focus is on recognizing the knowledge value contributed by multi-disciplinary perspectives to understand complex environmental systems.Students are also regularly asked to identify what important roles different disciplines contribute in addressing the global cases study examples explored. I implemented a survey that evaluates each student's sense of belonging in environmental science at the beginning and end of the semester, and students are routinely asked to reflect on their own experiences and thinking regarding sustainability.


Carnegie Mellon University - Qatar

Nui Vatanasakdakul headshotNui Vatanasakdakul
Associate Teaching Professor
Information Systems
Course: 67-352 E-business and Design Thinking

 


DEI Goal: 
Enriching students’ learning experiences, motivation and engagement, through an exploration of their cultural and regional background.

This is an elective course targeting students in the Information Systems major, and Tech Entrepreneurship minor. Students learn about how digital platforms and businesses inter-play to produce innovative e-business models, processes, products and services in various contexts from both strategic and hands-on operational perspectives. In the final project, students will set up their own social commerce business in Qatar. My project is designed to promote more inclusive awareness about diversity and the gender gap in entrepreneurship in social commerce education, particularly in a middle eastern context. I aim to create effective pedagogy in fostering knowledge and understanding on the sensitive gender culture in order to empower female entrepreneurs in the social commerce domain. I assign pre-work to prepare students to discuss gender in entrepreneurship in a global context. Then during our discussion I aim to develop their understanding and anticipation on what might be challenges in gender gap and in social commerce entrepreneurship in Qatar. Then, while implementing their social commerce business, students are asked to apply what they have learned to their business practice, and to observe and reflect on their experiences in the report. I am using the mid semester survey to ask students about their awareness of diversity and gender in social commerce entrepreneurship. At the end of semester, I am using the reflective method for students to analyze their learning experiences in a report.


Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Nynke Niezink headshotNynke Niezink
Assistant Professor
Statistics and Data Science
Course: 36-226 Introduction to Statistical Inference

 


DEI Goal: 
Helping students hear and engage with diverse perspectives and experiences through exposures to statisticians and practitioners from diverse backgrounds, and more intense collaboration between students. 

My course is a large undergraduate class, primarily taken by sophomores and juniors, from a wide range of backgrounds. This course is the second half of a year-long sequence in probability and mathematical statistics. Using the foundations from their probability class, students in this course learn the basic ideas and methods for analyzing data and making inferences about an unknown population based on a data sample. My project is aimed at improving students' sense of belonging in my class and in Statistics. I encourage student connections by introducing recitation sections to the course where they are encouraged to collaborate. I am also improving the inclusiveness of 36-226 by showing the students that statistics has many faces, both as a field and in terms of those who practice it, through new homework problems that introduce students to statisticians and practitioners in short video interviews and related exercises. I am using a survey to assess students' sense of belonging as well as their social network ties within the course context at the beginning and end of the semester. 


Mellon College of Science

Lynley Doonan headshotLynley Doonan
Assistant Teaching Professor
Biological Sciences


 

Amanda Willard headshotAmanda Willard
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Biological Sciences
Course: 03-117 Frontiers, Analysis, and Discovery in Biological Sciences


 
DEI Goal: Increasing our students’ sense of belonging and normalizing setbacks as part of the journey to becoming a scientist.

Frontiers, Analysis, and Discovery in Biological Sciences is a first-year, semester long research-based laboratory course. Students work in teams on a research question to learn laboratory techniques followed by final projects in which they ultimately design a research experiment, implement it, analyze the data, and present the results. Our goal is to increase our students’ sense of belonging and normalize setbacks as part of the journey to becoming a scientist so that when our first year students encounter setbacks and failures they are more resilient and feel empowered to persevere in their journey to becoming a scientist. We want to highlight that the path to becoming a scientist is often nonlinear, everyone experiences setbacks and failures, and overcoming them is how you succeed. We ask students to reflect on what setbacks they have faced in the lab and how their laboratory technique has improved as a result; we further highlight this during sharing activities in which upper-class students in other laboratory courses share setbacks they have experienced and discuss how they overcame them. We also invite departmental faculty guest speakers to describe their journey to becoming a scientist and setbacks they encountered in addition to showcasing the research that they do. We are using a survey to assess students’ relationship to failure, whether they see themselves as a scientist, and how they describe the characteristics of a scientist.


Tepper School of Business 

Abbe Depretis headshotAbbe Depretis
Assistant Teaching Professor 
Course: 45-893 Communicating DEI in the Workplace


 

DEI Goal: Teaching DEI practices to apply in the workplace and in their own work and organizations.

Communicating DEI in the Workplace is a mini course designed to introduce the concepts of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to our part time MBA students in a meaningful and dedicated way and to develop their communication skills within this critical area of the business world. By using students' own stories and perspectives, the class aims to include their voices and combine their experiences with the narratives of others to show a cohesive picture of DEI in the workplace. We will consider ways to communicate the concepts and applications of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion beginning with the hiring process and moving into the workplace, including teamwork, interpersonal interactions, and innovation, and culminating in a final DEI initiative for their organization.


John Gasper headshotJohn Gasper
Associate Teaching Professor 
Course: 73-348 Behavioral Economics


 

DEI Goal: Increasing students’ sense of belonging in the classroom and field, and engaging students in discussing issues of diversity and inclusion.

This course is an elective and intended to give future managers, consultants, and policy makers an introduction to the insights and applications of behavioral economics. It draws together research from psychology and economics to address topics including heuristics and biases in inference and prediction, risk perceptions and attitudes, and the roles of group processes in decision making. Through this fellowship, my aim is to enhance awareness and understanding of how issues surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion have limited the data we use to inform our understanding of economic processes. By integrating the conversation of diversity in subject pools into material earlier in the course, it is my hope that students feel more comfortable engaging with discussion related to diversity and inclusion. I am also redesigning several assessments in the course to highlight the role of research subjects from different backgrounds. Often this diversity, or lack thereof, is a crucial yet overlooked aspect in generalizing the results of research. I am scaffolding the development of the students’ final replication project to highlight the diversity of their subjects and the role that this might play in what we “know” in the social sciences. I plan on measuring the change in a sense of belonging and sensitivity to DEI issues via pre- and post-tests.


Bryan Routledge headshotBryan Routledge
Associate Professor 
Course: 70-106 Business Science

 

 

DEI Goal: Building shared community guidelines for discussion, to help students discuss how DEI issues impact and are impacted by business decision making, and how business science tools can apply directly to improving the world.

The goal of the course is to introduce undergraduates to the academic study of business. The content of the class is to give students experience with the three core ”lenses” used to study and advance the science and practice of business: the mathematics of optimization, economics, and organization behavior. Typically, these concepts are new to students. My goal is to create a more inclusive classroom that does not rely on “background'' engagement where students are mostly passive. Second, DEI issues are ubiquitous in business, so we are making space to address them in the context of the course material. We are spending time discussing our communities guidelines and norms (linked to the business topic of an organization's culture). Each assignment has a tie to a DEI issue where we discuss the connection to business as well as how business science tools can impact DEI issues both negatively and positively. We are using a survey to ask about students' sense of belonging at the beginning and end of the semester.

2021-2022 Provost’s Inclusive Teaching Fellows

College of Fine Arts

Ausar Stewart headshotAusar Stewart
Assisstant Professor
Drama/Voice
Course: 54-301, Acting III

 


DEI Goal: 
Recontextualize decolonization, not in academic or metaphorical terms, but as an embodied practice that can be undertaken to allow for the student to personally access what releasing colonial structures means for themselves.

I am redesigning a section of Acting III, a course taken by third year performing majors in the School of Drama. My goal is for students to be able to recontextualize their acting as a path of development, healing, transformation, and renewal where traditionally acting training is primarily contextualized within its business and industry and the white supremacist and Eurocentric models contained therein. Shifting the lens away from the primarily western models that constitute the majority of the methodologies within an acting conservatory curriculum, this course draws from numerous global sources identified as Templates of Inner Standing to constitute the core of its curriculum. These include:  African embodied movement practices and philosophy, such as HUDU 4 elements practice from PIMAY Afrikan yoga; the ancient teachings of the 7 Hermetic Principles through Kemetic Yoga; grounding and mindful theatre practices from Japan in the form of Tadashi Suzuki’s performing pedagogy; First Nations philosophy as fuel for artistic exploration through the 0-9 law of the Twisted Hairs shamanic sciences; and charting the subconscious through the liberating practice of Jerzy Grotowski’s River Work which forms the underlying journey and progression of this class. This class provides students the tools to begin the introspective process of self examination, self care, and self appointment which allows and empowers the artist to truly blossom as well as allowing the individual to more deeply connect with and access their identity in their lived experience and artistic practice.


College of Engineering

Daniel Armanios headshotDaniel Armanios
Associate Professor
Engineering and Public Policy
Course: 19-468/19-678, Engineering and Social Justice

 


DEI Goal:
Complement the existing diversity of representation in course materials with assignments that encourage different forms of thinking, expression, and ideas that diversity brings. 

This course is designed to help students unpack the legacy and role of engineers in our perennial fight for social justice and equity. We discuss how engineers can promote a more equitable world through understanding our professional legacy, exploring biases (unintentional or purposeful) in various engineering systems, and methods for characterizing and rectifying said biases. My project is designed to promote more inclusivity through embracing and encouraging more nontraditional forms of assignments (i.e., podcasts, poetry, art vs. typical memos or essays). For example, I have been working to develop new rubrics that encourage non-traditional assignments through better clarifying objective expectations for such assignments and leaving room for creativity in their execution. Additionally, I am providing scaffolding that accounts for the mix of undergraduate and graduate students in the course. For instance, I have been building pre-class syntheses of reading materials to help prepare everyone for class activities and discussions. To assess these approaches, I will count how many students complete non-traditional assignments and compare their quality to student work from last year. I will also use small assignments or quizzes at the beginning of class to gauge reading comprehension and retention across undergraduate and graduate students. 


Sarah Christian headshotSarah Christian
Associate Teaching Professor
Civil and Environmental Engineering

 

 

David Rounce headshotDavid Rounce
Assistant Professor
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Course: 12-401, CEE Design: Imagine, Build, Test

 

 

DEI Goal: Teach students to become socially conscious engineers, sensitive to the impacts that engineering projects have on individuals, especially those from marginalized communities. 

With this goal in mind, we are working inclusively with a local community and stakeholders to incorporate their feedback and insight into the engineering design process. We applied this approach to our department’s capstone course, in which students apply their learning from previous project-based courses to design an engineering solution to a real-world problem. Discussions, journals, and other writing assignments create space for students to reflect on how the engineering design process can lead to inequitable outcomes. Specifically, we challenge students to evaluate previous engineering projects through the lens of equity and justice. Students also reflect on inclusivity both within project teams and with respect to gathering and integrating community perspectives. We are using pre- and post-assessments to determine the change in value that students place on working with communities and incorporating their perspectives into the design process.


Hanan Hibshi headshotHanan Hibshi
Assistant Teaching Professor
Information Networking Institute 
Course: 14-735, Secure Coding 

 


DEI Goal:
Foster a collaborative environment to help support students, including those from underrepresented groups, to feel welcome, challenged, and valued in terms of their contributions to the field of cybersecurity.

At the intersection of cybersecurity and computer science, this course prepares students for cybersecurity challenges in their future jobs. My project aims to provide a valuable educational experience for every student who is interested in cybersecurity, beyond the stereotypical image of the white male hacker wearing a hoodie. To be inclusive, I strive to help students feel valuable by providing them with targeted tools and resources to overcome any gaps in their technical background. Additionally, to prevent student isolation and increase peer learning, I assign students to heterogeneous groups using a variety of parameters historically tied to student success in the course. I intentionally and repeatedly encourage dialogue among students with different experiences within those groups. To investigate the impacts of these approaches, I am using student surveys to ask about their course experience and comparing my students’ performance on authentic assignments to outcomes on the same assignments in previous semesters. Preliminary results suggest that more students now successfully complete the cybersecurity challenges. 


Vincent Sokalski headshotVincent Sokalski
Associate Professor
Materials Science and Engineering
Course: 27-100, Engineering the Materials of the Future

 


DEI Goal:
Develop lesson plans, classroom activities, and discussions that honor the diverse backgrounds of past, present, and future materials scientists, including those taking the class.

This course provides an introduction to the field of materials science and engineering including the critical interconnection between structure, properties, processing, and performance. My approach examines the role of materials engineering in addressing unique and overlooked challenges faced by underprivileged and minoritized groups. Students will directly influence the course content. For example, to make the course more culturally responsive, I will design lessons to overlap with the interests and backgrounds of my students based on surveys and discussions conducted early in the course.


Carnegie Mellon University - Qatar

Deep Nair headshotDeepa Nair
Assistant Teaching Professor
History, Arts and Social Sciences
Course: 79-391, Nations and Nationalisms in South Asia

 

 
DEI Goal: Create a safe space where students can bring their whole selves and express their views freely irrespective of their gender, race, ethnic, linguistic, sexual, religious, or national differences.

This course examines the role nationalism has played in anti-colonial struggles, post-colonial state formation, and contemporary political developments, leading to the formation and political development of the nations and states of South Asia. My PITF project explores inclusive teaching and course design strategies that enable student participation, removes barriers, creates a sense of belonging, and considers various learning needs and preferences.  I am interested in creating an inclusive learning community where different backgrounds and cultures of students are cherished and celebrated, and their varied socio-cultural experiences are embraced. I am promoting inclusive class discussions by assigning texts and discussion questions as pre-work, and using both small and whole group discussions. I am also assigning a reflection journal every week where students can reflect on the week's readings and class discussions. I plan to use a survey to ask about students' sense of belonging at the beginning and end of the semester. I will also gather student feedback early and later in the semester to assess the effectiveness of these inclusive teaching and learning strategies, especially related to discussions and reflection journals. 


Patrick Walsh headshotPatrick Walsh
Assistant Teaching Professor
Philosophy, Arts and Sciences
Course: 80-249: AI, Society, and Humanity

 

 
DEI Goal: Increase student agency and control regarding assignments to allow diversity to flourish and ensure everyone's voice can be expressed most fully. 

This discussion-based course examines the ethical and social implications of current and near-future AI technology, and highlights the interdisciplinary nature of these questions and the various methodologies required to answer them. I aim to give students agency in how they address these topics by providing options on assignments, more control over grades, and more room for unusual or novel approaches to tackling these moral and social challenges. With this in mind, I use specifications grading, an approach to evaluation that relies on pass/fail grading of assignments and multiple opportunities to revise so that students can choose which “specs” they will engage with and, therefore, what grade they will receive. By giving students choices for how to approach assignments, including  topic and format, I hope to give students the ability to engage on their own terms with the course content. I am also assessing the impact of this course on student's moral sensitivities and awareness through a pre/post test I developed in collaboration with the Eberly Center as part of a different/larger project. 


Ihab Younis headshotIhab Younis
Associate Teaching Professor
Biology, Biological Sciences
Course: 03-442, Molecular Biology

 

 
DEI Goal: Highlight diverse scientists to enhance students' awareness of gender bias in science. 

This course is designed to give students the principles and tools that they need to think like an independent scientist. While the field of molecular biology does not lack brilliant contributions from female scientists, they tend to be overlooked. Two main changes will be implemented in the course: First, the six research papers that the students read, summarize, and discuss in class will be selected such that three are authored by women scientists and three by men. Second, students will add a short biography of the scientist in their written summary that focuses on their scientific background and accomplishments. Pre- and post-surveys of students' knowledge of scientific achievements of various male and female scientists will be used to assess students' awareness. By giving students, especially women, a better sense of belonging, I hope students are able to achieve higher levels of motivation and inspiration, deeper interest, better engagement, and an enhanced overall learning experience. 


Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Ignacio Arana headshotIgnacio Arana
Assistant Teaching Professor
Institute for Politics and Strategy 
Course: 84-275, Comparative Politics

 

 
DEI Goal: Use active learning to improve all students’ outcomes and sense of belonging.

Comparative Politics is usually the largest course in IPS with 50-75 students, from first-year students to seniors, representing more than fifteen majors. Often, the majority of students are from underrepresented groups. This course introduces students to a major subfield in political science, in which we use comparative methods to study and compare domestic politics across countries. Students learn about how political systems differ, discuss why they differ, and explore the consequences of such variation. I plan to engage all students as much as possible by using targeted active learning techniques during class sessions. To strengthen students’ sense of belonging to the class, active learning exercises will encourage application of content to relevant, real-world cases as students form strong arguments. Furthermore, to strengthen the students’ sense of belonging, during every class, we will have small-group discussions, rather than whole class discussions alone, structured to encourage students to express their voices.To help create an inclusive learning environment and support participation, I will facilitate guided conversations about group expectations at the beginning of the semester. I expect that active learning and more inclusive group discussions will help increase student engagement, which in turn will allow them to achieve deeper mastery. I will measure their sense of belonging and engagement through surveys at the beginning and the end of the semester.


José Estrada headshotJosé Estrada
Assistant Teaching Professor
Modern Languages

Course: 82-282, Interpreting Global Texts and Cultures

 

 
DEI Goal: My PITF project is designed to promote inclusive practices in the skill of interpretation of literary texts, including multiple opportunities for practice and feedback. 

This course is part of Dietrich's new General Education Program and is designed to introduce first-year students to the field of cultural studies and how cultural agents from around the world contribute to and challenge the discipline. In an effort to meet students where they are in terms of interest, students chose a children's book from four options. Each week, students interpret their chosen children's book, applying new vocabulary and information from criticism readings pertaining to cultural studies. Students keep a reading journal where they record their observations and interpretations each week. The children’s book activity and journaling makes theory more accessible by providing multiple opportunities to apply different theories to the same text, thereby allowing students to focus on developing interpretative skills rather than simultaneously engaging with a new text each week. We are using a rubric to evaluate students’ reading journal responses and to track the development of their interpretation skills and perspectives over time. 


Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy

Rebekah Fitzsimmons headshotRebekah Fitzsimmons
Assistant Teaching Professor
Information Systems and Public Policy 

Courses: 90-718, Strategic Presentation Skills & Professional Speaking 

 

 
DEI Goal: Promote a more inclusive approach to professional speaking, both by introducing accessibility and universal design standards as desired learning outcomes for students as well as creating a more inclusive definition of "professional" and working to teach presentation skills and strategies in ways that address diverse student needs. 

I teach core communication courses in which students work to improve their public speaking, including impromptu speaking, prepared presentations, and group presentations. My project is focused specifically on ways to help introverted and neurodiverse students approach specific issues they face when giving public presentations. To address more inclusive presentations as a student learning objective, I have incorporated a lesson on universal design and accessibility standards and require students to design their final presentation with these standards in mind. I am continuing to research new approaches and techniques to address neurodiversity in professional presentation contexts and hope to find approaches to address these issues in the spring iteration of my course. I am measuring the impacts of my intervention by using a survey to ask students about their sense of public speaking as a learnable skill rather than an innate talent. By increasing awareness and teaching students tools to make their own professional presentations more accessible, I hope to help normalize accessibility as a part of professional communication in the 21st century, in terms of preparing my students to create a more inclusive environment in their workplaces. 


Christopher Goranson headshotChristopher Goranson
Professor
Information Systems and Public Policy
Course: 90-783, Policy Innovation Lab: Public Interest Technology

 

 
DEI Goal: Intentionally create space, both in the classroom and with our community partners, to better account for differences in backgrounds, experiences and perspectives and increase the likelihood of long-term changes in our society’s engagement of technology. 

The Policy Innovation Lab partners students with real-world challenges from external organizations (usually government or non-profits) who provide some public benefit or good. I am working to ensure that, through in-class case studies and examples, direct partner engagements, and user-centered design, I engage both students and partners collaboratively toward a better understanding of how Public Interest Technology impacts wide sections of society, especially for traditionally underrepresented communities or those who have not been well served by advancements in technology. I hope to build a robust, inclusive learning environment where the best ideas around public interest technology can emerge and lead to positive societal impacts. In addition to further diversifying course content, I am also working to redesign assignment rubrics so that all students have a better sense of the objective expectations for their work, allowing them to engage more thoughtfully and creatively. I am using the Eberly Center’s Early Course Feedback service to assess students’ engagement and perceptions of the redesigned rubrics. I will also compare the final assignment deliverables to previous years to qualitatively assess the impact of the rubrics. 


Haylee Massaro headshotHaylee Massaro
Assistant Teaching Professor
Information Systems

Course: 95-717, Writing for Information Systems Management

 

 
DEI Goal: Promote discussion about understanding the perspectives of others, the importance of the sense of belonging, and how feelings of “othering” or isolation can hinder one’s, or one’s future colleagues’, progress and experiences in the workplace.

I teach a writing and communications course, where students examine case studies and best practices in professional communications as it relates to the field of information systems. Via a series of intentionally designed role play activities, students will explore the goals above in pairs and small groups, followed by full class discussions and individual reflections after class. My hope is that these exercises will not only create an inclusive place for discussion but also will allow students to consider perspectives that are different from their own. We are using pre- and post-surveys to assess student attitudes and feelings towards the inclusive communication topics explored in the course. Additionally, we will analyze student responses to the individual reflections where they document takeaways from role play exercises and answer questions about how they can influence inclusive workplaces in their future professional lives. 


Mellon College of Science

Clive Newstead headshotClive Newstead
Assistant Teaching Professor
Mathematical Sciences

Course: 21-127 Concepts of Mathematics

 

 
DEI Goal: Enhance the course content, which is highly abstract and theoretical in nature, to be more accessible and relevant to students' interests and identities.

This is an introductory course in proof-based mathematics, which forms the basis of most higher-level math courses and is a prerequisite for many courses in Computer Science and other theoretical disciplines. To allow students to see more of their own identities and interests reflected in the course content, I am incorporating tasks into the weekly homework assignments that require students to engage with the topics and skills from the course in ways beyond proving theorems, such as by describing the contributions of a contemporary mathematician in a particular area of study, or by applying a mathematical idea to a real-world situation. I am using surveys and a focus group to measure students' perspectives surrounding mathematics at the beginning, middle, and end of the course. 


School of Computer Science

Scott Pavetti headshotScott Pavetti
Assistant Teaching Professor
Institute for Software Research

Course: 17-627, Requirements for Embedded Systems

 

 
DEI Goal: Promote inclusive design and challenge students to design in a way that benefits a more inclusive, broader audience.

 This course prepares students to take a product concept and refine it into a complete requirements and specifications document for software intensive projects. My project helps prepare students for future, more inclusive, software design projects by rethinking a central requirements engineering methodology called personas. Personas are meant to identify the target audience for a particular product. However, the use of personas can result in exclusive, rather than inclusive, designs when only certain groups of users are considered. Through newly designed class discussions, assignments, and a final project, students will learn how to create more inclusive personas and product designs by considering the different kinds of people that are served by developing products. Students final projects will be assessed using a rubric that evaluates their use of personas. In addition, a survey at the end of the semester will ask students about their experience designing inclusive personas. 


Kelly Rivers headshotKelly Rivers
Assistant Teaching Professor
Computer Science
Course: 15-110, Principles of Computing

 

 
DEI Goal:  Show students from diverse backgrounds how computer science can support their own interests and engage more students in this field, especially historically underrepresented students.

I teach an introductory computer science and programming course that fulfills a general education requirement for non-majors. It covers big ideas from the field of computer science (CS) with the goal of having students recognize these topics and how they can be applied in other fields. My goal is to help students understand how computational concepts and techniques can be used in their own fields of study and how CS is relevant in their own lives. To achieve this goal, I am developing a more diverse set of examples and homework problems to demonstrate how CS and programming can be used to support a variety of disciplines, with a specific focus on 'computational discovery' (CS for scientific and data analysis), 'creative computing' (CS for self-expression and art), and 'critical computing' (how CS affects the world around us). I am asking students to fill out pre-, mid-, and post-semester surveys to self-report on the extent to which they believe on that CS is relevant and important in their field of study, in their hobbies, and for understanding the world around them. 

Lining Yao headshotLining Yao
Assistant Professor
Human-Computer Interaction Institute
Course: 05-499/05-899, Inclusive Tangible and Material Interfaces

 

 
DEI Goal: Teach inclusive design principles.

This course combines lecture and hands-on labs in which students learn the science and design principles of tangible and morphing materials and interfaces. My project is designed to teach students inclusive design principles alongside the technical engineering materials. Lectures, readings, and discussions will include the topic of inclusive design. Additionally, a redesigned final project challenges students to design a morphing matter product inclusively. By introducing and practicing inclusive design guidelines, I am preparing students to think inclusively anytime they design products. To assess student outcomes, I will use a rubric to assess the extent to which students’ effectively use inclusive design principles in their final projects.  


Tepper School of Business 

Clara Burke headshotClara Burke
Associate Teaching Professor
Business Management Communications

Course: 45-890, Consulting and Conflict Resolution

 

 
DEI Goal: Help students become more inclusive communicators and leaders by rethinking the biases inherent in how we communicate and view others' communication styles.

This course is an elective in which students build their conflict resolution and general communication skills through role plays, feedback, and self-reflection. Students will analyze cases, communication standards, and conflict resolution tools from the standpoint of inclusivity. They will also reflect how, as future leaders, they can play a role in developing less biased work environments and widening their own and their organizations' views of effective communication and conflict management. I am using students' responses to assignments to assess if, and how, their understanding of inclusive communication changes. I'm hoping that our students, who are already very attuned to the importance of inclusion, will begin their journeys to being even more active inclusive leaders, be willing to listen to their colleagues' viewpoints, and take a fresh view of their own and others' communication styles.


Peter Stuettgen headshotPeter Stuettgen
Associate Teaching Professor
Marketing
Course: 70-381, Marketing

 

 
DEI Goal: Increase students' awareness of DEI issues as they relate to marketing decisions and sense of belonging in the classroom and in the field of marketing.

This introductory course covers the whole spectrum of marketing and is required for all business majors and minors. I am “flipping the classroom”, prioritizing class time for more examples, cases, and discussions exploring the impact of marketing decisions on historically excluded groups. By repeatedly discussing several examples and cases from different perspectives, my hope is that students will internalize thinking about the impact their marketing decisions may have on marginalized groups. Moreover, to increase students’ sense of belonging in marketing, I am creating a video interview series, highlighting a diverse set of professionals working in different marketing fields. The videos will show both the diversity of people working in marketing as well as the diversity of jobs within the field. I will measure a) students’ sense of belonging using a survey at the beginning and end of the semester and b) students’ awareness of DEI issues and  mastery of course concepts by analyzing their answers on the final exam and assignments. 


2020-2021 Provost’s Inclusive Teaching Fellows

Ros Abbott headshotRos Abbott
Assistant Professor
Biomedical Engineering
College of Engineering

Ros is redesigning Introduction to Biomedical Engineering, a course aimed at first-year students before they have chosen a specialty in Engineering. The course introduces the breadth of research tracks within Biomedical Engineering. Previously, through a Wimmer Faculty Fellowship on the Development of Teaching, Ros redesigned her lab exercises to more actively engage students. For her PITF project, Ros is building on this work, creating videos of diverse biomedical engineers discussing their path in the discipline and how these engineers’ daily work is related to each course topic. The videos are meant to help students better identify with the discipline by seeing and hearing from biomedical engineers with a diversity of backgrounds and identities. These videos also aim to help students see the relevance of course concepts as real-life research tools. Using a vetted survey instrument, Ros and her team at Eberly plan to study how students’ sense of belonging and/or perception of “what it means to be a biomedical engineer” change after her intervention.


Mark Bedillion headshotMark Bedillion
Associate Teaching Professor
Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering

Mark is redesigning Fundamentals of Mechanical Engineering, a first-year course seeking to both introduce students to fundamental principles of engineering and attract them to the discipline. Mark aims to develop students’ skills for designing products with inclusion in mind. His PITF strategy includes both asynchronous and synchronous learning activities based on  examples when engineers failed to account for diversity and produced designs that were not inclusive and sometimes discriminatory. In addition, students will practice their inclusive design thinking skills through revamped homeworks and projects. Modeled after the Maya Pedal project from Guatemala, the culminating project of the semester will invite students to think about a pedal-powered design for machinery in locations with limited access to electricity. This project will be relevant to students as many communities in the US and globally have poor or intermittent access to electricity, emphasizing the importance of designing products for people beyond wealthy, white communities. Mark and his Eberly team plan to assess the impacts of the project through an analysis of student performance on specific areas of homeworks and the final project.


Christina Bjorndhal headshotChristina Bjorndhal
Special Faculty
Philosophy
Dietrich College of Humanities & Social Sciences

Christina is redesigning Nature of Language, a foundational linguistics course and elective for a number of other related majors and minors. The large enrollment course introduces students to key sub-areas of linguistics like phonetics, phonology, and syntax. Using a class wiki project, Christina will challenge students to engage with linguistics as a way of unpacking examples of discrimination and oppression. She is also designing asynchronous activities for students to practice foundational skills in linguistics, thereby re-allocating face-to-face time in weekly recitations to facilitate group discussions with students on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In parallel, Christina is working to incorporate research, readings, and examples that highlight marginalized languages and identity groups traditionally underrepresented in the field. 


Leslie Donaldson headshotLeslie Donaldson
Assistant Teaching Professor
Arts Management
Heinz College of Public Policy & Information Management 

Leslie is redesigning Arts & Community Development, one of several electives that fulfills the Cultural Policy requirement for graduate students in the Masters of Arts Management (MAM) Program. Through the MAM Program, students learn how to confront and find solutions to problems facing the arts and cultural sector. Her course introduces students to creative place-making, a developing field of study, in which students learn about community development and the role arts and culture can play in this process. Students will use place studies to understand and explore various topics, including public art, cultural districts, creative workforce development, cultural tourism, and cross-sector collaborations in transportation, public safety, and housing. In addition, field scans will challenge students to question and engage with issues of gentrification, economic inequality, and racial equity within the field. Reflective assignments will allow students to take time to process these issues. The class culminates in a final project in which students must develop a creative community development plan for a local Pittsburgh neighborhood which recognizes and values the assets and needs of the community. Through the course and the final project, Leslie aims to equip students with the tools to engage in the arts and community development by thinking critically about controversial issues and working to include the voices of various stakeholders, rather than leaving them out. 


Felipe Gomez headshotFelipe Gomez
Teaching Professor
Modern Languages
Dietrich College of Humanities & Social Sciences

Felipe is redesigning Comics, Community, and Coding: Electronic Textuality and Culture in Latin America, an advanced undergraduate class in Modern Languages, Hispanic Studies. The course introduces students to the world of Latinx comics as well as the Digital Humanities. Students collaboratively drive course content through their research interests, exploring comics covering a range of identities relevant to Latin America. Students will regularly discuss their chosen comics and themes throughout the semester while learning the skills to code the comics as part of a Digital Humanities project. 


Kai Gutschow headshotKai Gutschow
Associate Professor
Architecture
College of Fine Arts

Kai is redesigning Architecture and the Arts, a first-year undergraduate course introducing the discipline via blending lectures and discussions. Following feedback from Architecture students, Kai decided to diversify the curriculum by explicitly integrating a broader array of buildings from across the world and featuring architects with diverse backgrounds. Kai is translating this more inclusive content into actionable skills for students to acquire. For instance, what inclusive questions should an architect ask when faced with a new building? Who was excluded from the design phase? Who is included/excluded from the use of the building by its design? Kai and his Eberly team will assess the impact of the project through a pre/post assessment measuring students’ learning gains regarding the intricate relationships between architecture, arts, and inequalities.


Kyle Haden headshotKyle Haden
Interim Senior Associate Head, Assistant Professor - Acting
School of Drama
College of Fine Arts

Kyle is redesigning Acting III, a course taken by juniors in Acting and Musical Theater. Traditionally, students work on a performance project with a director, exploring and performing plays from Chekhov, Greek theater, and Comedy of Manners. Kyle’s redesign steps outside of the Eurocentric theater canon by focusing the introductory unit of the course on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in Drama. Through innovative classroom activities and discussions, students will grapple with the following provocative questions. In American theatre, what culture is dominant and which cultures are marginalized? How does this (de)centering manifest itself in the industry and how is it portrayed? What does it mean to center marginalized cultures/decenter whiteness? With these questions as critical lenses, students from underrepresented or de-centered backgrounds will then rehearse and perform scenes from plays specific to their particular culture. At the same time, students from dominant or centered cultures will apply their acting skills to works that do not center their experiences. Kyle is particularly interested in finding diverse texts written by marginalized voices and characters that allow students to connect to their specific cultures and intersectional identities, including, but not limited to race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, and sexual orientation. By giving students the opportunity to work on texts with which they identify, Kyle hopes students will better connect with the material and focus deeply on nuanced acting techniques, allowing them to deepen and explore their craft in new ways. Kyle and his Eberly team plan to assess the impacts of his course redesign through student focus groups during and after the course. 


Geoff Kaufman headshotGeoff Kaufman
Assistant Professor
Human Computer Interaction Institute
School of Computer Science

Geoff is redesigning Persuasive Design in HCI, an elective course for undergraduate and graduate students. Geoff’s project focuses on redesigning the course’s team project, a primary learning and assessment component of the course, to explicitly focus on equity and inclusion. Students will design a technology that aims to reduce or mitigate bias or a tool that empowers designers or researchers of technology to be more mindful of their own biases. As students explore the theories and concepts related to persuasive design, they will also engage in a variety of activities designed to reveal how assumptions and implicit biases about technology users drive design decisions. Geoff is also particularly interested in strategies for creating a classroom climate that is welcoming and supportive of all students. 


Gizelle Sherwood headshotGizelle Sherwood
Associate Teaching Professor
Chemistry
Mellon College of Science 

Gizelle is redesigning the mini-course The Design and Making of Skin and Hair Products, an elective lab course in Chemistry. Students will explore how factors such as race, ethnicity, gender identity, socio-economic status, environmental factors, athletic persuasions, and culture play a role in the formulation of cosmetic products. Gizelle’s redesign centers diversity in pre-lab assignments by challenging students to consider how the formulations in the products they use map to their identities, unpacking assumptions related to product choices. Additionally, students will apply their learning from assignments and discussions as they work in teams to design signature formulations of skin and hair products for fictional “clients” with diverse interests and identities.  


Necia Werner headshotNecia Werner
Associate Teaching Professor
English
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Necia is redesigning Writing for the Professions, a 200-level writing course that fulfills a writing requirement for many undergraduate STEM students. In addition to teaching sections of this course, Necia trains and supervises a group of instructors who teach additional sections. A primary goal of her redesign classroom activities and assessments to reprioritize and enhance values and learning outcomes previously embedded in the course. These include explicitly training students how rhetorical and discourse moves can respect or disrespect, address or silence, or empower or harm audiences and users. Because this course also introduces students to interpersonal and team-based collaboration one might anticipate in the workplace, her redesign seeks to highlight strategies for interaction and communication that are both supportive and equitable.  


Jerry Wang headshotJerry Wang
Assistant Professor
Civil and Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering

Jerry is redesigning Computation and Data Science for Civil and Environmental Engineering, a required course for majors. Typically taken in the second year, the course introduces students to concepts in numerical computation and data science. Jerry’s project has two main threads: (1) to develop a curriculum where students see themselves as someone who can use computing in engineering, and (2) to encourage a moral orientation about data. To meet the first goal, Jerry is incorporating and celebrating the contributions of women and people of color alongside the more traditional voices that make up the discipline. For the second goal, students will explore ethical issues related to data science as then engage with example datasets, practice opportunities, and projects. Jerry also seeks to support his students who vary considerably in background preparation. His project includes developing supports and resources as on-ramps to the prerequisite skills required for projects and learning activities. This work complements the other aspects of his project and extends access to students, regardless of their prior knowledge.