Colorado School of Mines
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups

Colorado School of Mines (Mines) is committed to equal opportunity for all persons.

Mines does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, gender (including gender identity and gender expression), ancestry, creed, marital status, race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, veteran status or current military service. Further, Mines does not retaliate against community members for filing complaints regarding or implicating any of these protected statuses.

Mines’ commitment to nondiscrimination, affirmative action, equal opportunity and equal access is reflected in the administration of its policies, procedures, programs and activities and in its efforts to achieve a diverse student body and workforce.

Through its policies, procedures and resources, Mines complies with federal law, Colorado state law, administrative regulations, executive orders and other legal requirements to prevent discrimination (including harassment or retaliation) within the Mines campus community and to address potential allegations of inequity or concerns for safety.

URL: https://www.mines.edu/equal-opportunity/

Mines has a "Speak Up" at Mines program that is part of the D&I program. See https://www.mines.edu/speak-up/. Other D&I inclusion services for underrepresented groups: https://www.mines.edu/diversity/services/

Our Office of Equity and Title IX has a website and procedure setup for reporting discrimination and other issues. The website is https://www.mines.edu/institutional-equity-title-ix/

All departments and units across Mines are focused on creating new opportunities and/or sustaining current effective efforts that are designed to attract and retain a diverse student, faculty, and staff body. This is evidenced by each department/unit’s five year Diversity, Inclusion & Access (DI&A) Implementation Plan, in alignment with Mines’ Strategic Plan for DI&A.

STUDENTS

With respect to programs to recruit students, a sampling includes: community of scholars program (e.g., Vanguards and Caldwell Scholars); SUMMET; Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP) student organizations and support resources for underrepresented identity groups (i.e., oSTEM, NSBE, SHPE, SASE, etc.); Society of Women Engineers’ mentoring program for first and second year students, other K-12 outreach and leadership opportunities; summer Research Experiences for Undergrads (REUs); study abroad exchanges; Humans of Mines Marketing Campaign; Preview and Discover Mines Admissions events; high school, university and community college fairs; summer camps and afterschool programs (DECTech); PATHS; etc. More details are provided on a few of these programs below.

Multi-cultural Engineering Program
The Summer Multicultural Engineering Training (SUMMET) program is an engineering, science, and technology program designed for rising juniors and seniors at high schools in Colorado and Oklahoma who are from underrepresented populations, including ethnic/racial minorities, women, and prospective first-generation college students. The program is free and designed to recruit prospective students from underrepresented groups by making their transition to college easier through mentoring and support services. More details at https://mep.mines.edu/prospective-students/

Path Ambassadors to High Success (PATHS)
PATHs is a Colorado School of Mines scholarship program (with funding from the National Science Foundation) that offers an exciting opportunity for academically talented, low-income students in Colorado to study Computer Science (CS) at the Colorado School of Mines. PATHS especially seeks worthy scholars from groups underrepresented in CS and STEM fields, generally, by ethnic/cultural heritage, gender, etc. PATHS creates new and strengthens existing pathways for economically challenged, high-potential CS students to thrive at Mines. In addition to providing financial awards, PATHS empowers students through on-campus communities that provide a spectrum of activities, support services, career guidance, and university resources to encourage scholars through successful completion of an undergraduate CS degree. PATHS Scholars who successfully continue with the program will become mentors to new PATHS Scholars in later years. More details at https://paths.mines.edu/index.html

Vanguard Scholars Program
The Vanguard Scholarship Program is an invitation-only community of scholars for high-potential women students who embody leadership skills and a desire to improve our world through science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This service leadership program develops transformational leaders through professional development and academic success opportunities over the course of four years.
The Vanguard Community of Scholars Program is made possible through guidance and resources provided by the Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics (WISEM) Program at Mines. https://www.mines.edu/wisem/scholarships/vanguard-community-of-scholars/

The Florence Caldwell Scholarship
Named for the first woman to graduate from the Colorado School of Mines, this scholarship is for women, particularly women from underrepresented groups, and includes full ride scholarship for four years of undergraduate study. More details and bios at: https://www.mines.edu/wisem/scholarships/caldwell-scholarship/

Elementary, Middle School and High School Students

DECtech Program
DECtech is a Colorado School of Mines outreach program designed especially for girls! Studies show that girls' interest in science/engineering subjects starts to decline the closer the girls get to middle school. As a result, far fewer women pursue careers in the various STEM fields than their male counterparts. Program leaders are female Mines students who are both passionate about their subjects of study and sharing this passion with the next generation of girls to encourage them to study and pursue careers in science and engineering. More details at https://tech.mines.edu/

Full STEM Ahead
Full STEM Ahead is a hands-on program designed to engage middle school girls in STEM topics (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). In this program, 7th and 8th grade students are invited to a week long summer camp, hosted at the Colorado School of Mines. More details at https://www.mines.edu/wisem/full-stem-ahead/

FACULTY AND STAFF

With respect to programs to recruit academic faculty and/or non-academic staff from underrepresented groups, in addition to job posting on diverse job boards and benefits packages, some programs are described in more detail below.

Mines Community Alliances (MCA) for black, latinx, LGBTQ, and Women
This program is designed to recruit and support existing faculty and staff from underrepresented groups. The Mission of MCA is to be a strategic partner with the University to advance the understanding and inclusion of employees from underrepresented groups. More details at https://www.mines.edu/human-resources/mines-community-alliances/

Hiring Excellence Training through Human Resources
The Hiring Excellence Program was co-created in 2017 by representatives in Mines HR and with the Diversity, Inclusion & Access (DI&A Faculty Fellow. It’s a training program for hiring committees and teams to reduce implicit bias and foster a more diverse workforce, which directly ties to the DI&A Strategic Plan goals. Since 2018, HEx has been applied to all Academic Faculty searches, and all staff positions since 2019. More details at https://www.mines.edu/diversity/hiring-excellence-hex/

More details about recruitment are available at: https://www.mines.edu/diversity/wp-content/uploads/sites/278/2021/04/DIAMines-AnnualReport2020-.pdf

All departments and units across Mines are focused on creating new opportunities and/or sustaining current effective efforts that are designed to support a diverse student, faculty, and staff body. With respect to programs to support students, socially, there are over 250 active student organizations on campus ranging from identity groups to special interests. These groups help foster community and increase students’ sense of belonging, which is shown to improve retention. Below are more details about support resources that include students, faculty, and staff. Keep in mind that in science and technology, in particular engineering, women are also considered an underrepresented group. In addition to peer-to-peer support groups for students offered by the Counseling Center (https://www.mines.edu/counseling-center/groups/), Mines offers the following mentoring and support for underrepresented groups:

STUDENTS, FACULTY, AND STAFF

Mines Mentoring Program
High quality mentoring programs for students and faculty in STEM yield many benefits, but unfortunately people from underrepresented groups tend to have limited access to these opportunities. The Mines Mentoring program connects businesses and professionals with Mines alumni, employees and students from underrepresented groups to enrich the experiences of aspiring entrepreneurs, and serves to welcome and orient new Mines faculty to our community (extended onboarding). See https://www.mines.edu/mentoring/

DI&A Ambassador Workshops: The Mines DI&A Ambassadors program is a strategy used to help meet the growing requests for diversity and inclusion workshops across campus. Mines DI&A Ambassadors engage in deeper learning about implicit bias, microaggressions and other diversity, equity and inclusion topics as they relate to fostering a culture of inclusion and enacting positive social change on campus. After their intensive training, they offer 1-hour learning and development workshops to employees and students across campus. Ambassadors represent every role at Mines from Undergraduate Students to Tenured Faculty members. As of December, 2021, the Ambassadors have worked with over 300 community members (including employees and students) and have reached at least 13 different groups on campus, including Athletics, Greek Life, academic departments, student clubs and organizations, and administrative units such as Research and Technology Transfer or the Trefny Innovative Instruction Center.

Office for Institutional Equity and Title IX: Mission: strives to create a campus environment where all members of our community can safely and effectively access education and employment through prevention, policy administration, and resources and resolution options. Vision: A supportive, inclusive, and accountable community where all students, employees, and visitors can access their educational purpose and employment pursuits at Mines free from discrimination, harassment, violence, and retaliation. The Office of Institutional Equity and Title IX provides education to the Mines community with the goal of fostering a safe, inclusive and accessible campus environment. We provide a range of educational programming for undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff and supervisors designed to build awareness and skills for reducing, recognizing and addressing problematic behaviors, and creating a healthy and productive campus community.

OSTEM (Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). OSTEM is the official organization at Mines for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people (LGBTQ+), as well as straight supporters & allies. The organization provides support groups and therapy for LGBTQ+ students. See https://orgs.mines.edu/ostem/

Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics (WISEM): WISEM’s mission is to enhance opportunities for women in engineering and applied science careers, and to increase the recruitment, retention and graduation of women students. The program also provides programming, training and mentoring to Mines students, faculty, and staff. The program educates the campus community regarding gender issues, promotes a safe and inclusive environment and collaborates with corporate partners to help address industry needs. WISEM is a program available to everyone on campus. The ultimate goal is to create a diverse and inclusive campus environment with many different perspectives and ideas that can benefit the university as a whole.

FACULTY AND STAFF

EMPOWER: EMPOWER is a women’s group on campus with a mission to build a thriving community at Mines to enhance personal and professional goals of members through support, encouragement, inspiration, and cooperation while creating a strong professional network of empowered women. Mines FACULTY AND STAFF are welcome to become members and attend the monthly meetings that feature speakers on professional development and wellness, allow for networking and social interaction, and include service projects supporting the local community. They offer professional development opportunities including information about mentoring and sponsorship, opportunities to network with leadership, and social events.

Mines Community Alliances (MCAs): MCAs are Mines version of industry’s “Employee Resource Groups” (ERGs). The Mission of MCA is to be a strategic partner with the University to advance the understanding and inclusion of employees. The MCAs serve as a catalyst to enhance university objectives and professional development of our members. There are currently 5 MCAs: Black MCA, Latinx MCA, Women’s MCA, LGBTQ+ MCA, and Asian MCA. MCAs combine university and employee goals to provide maximum benefit to Colorado School of Mines. MCAs are aligned with our overall strategic initiative of building a high performing organization and creating a great place to work.

Academic Management Institute (AMI): AMI promotes the advancement of women to become excellent leaders who impact higher education through professional development, training, and networking. It’s an annual professional development opportunity that consists of a four “conference-style” workshops specifically for women in Colorado and Wyoming institutions who want to advance in higher education. Each workshop includes 3-5 guest presenters who speak on a theme and from their expertise and include skill-building activities. Often presenters are local to the region or from the sponsoring college.

The state of Colorado also offers coaching on campus: C-SEAP coaching (employees) https://www.mines.edu/everyoredigger/c-seap-services-on-campus/

The Colorado School of Mines is a member of the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science (GEM), The mission of the National GEM Consortium is to enhance the value of the nation's human capital by increasing the participation of underrepresented groups (African Americans, American Indians, and Hispanic Americans) at the master's and doctoral levels in engineering and science. GEM’s Fellowship programs prepare students for advanced careers in industry, academia, and government agencies by identifying and selecting highly qualified students to complete a program of STEM graduate study and industry internships. Through university and employer members, GEM develops funding to award fellowships and builds mentor networks to support Fellows in achieving academic and professional success. The GEM Consortium hosts an annual Future Faculty and Professionals (FFP) Symposium, GEM’s signature career development program for junior and future faculty members as well as industry professionals. Designed to create self-supporting networks FFP brings together senior faculty, managers, and researchers to network and mentor underrepresented students making vital decisions about the remainder of the graduate school experience and post-graduation careers. Particular emphasis is placed on current doctoral students interested in pursuing faculty careers at colleges and universities. See https://www.gemfellowship.org/ffp/
See also:
https://www.gemfellowship.org/
https://www.gemfellowship.org/university-members/

SUMMET (Summer Multicultural Engineering Training) internships hires two Teaching Interns from underrepresented groups to help develop and deliver curriculum for the Summer Multicultural Engineering Training Program. SUMMET targets underrepresented students to train them for careers as faculty. The overall mission of these programs are to spark interest in STEM in underrepresented group and help them to see STEM as a possible career choice.

Other websites for support of underrepresented groups include:

Residence Life - Student information for gender inclusive housing on campus
https://www.mines.edu/residence-life/residence-halls/gender-inclusive-housing/

Source:
Kelly Knechtel
Assistant Director, Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics Program
Program Manager, Diversity and Inclusion
SWE Faculty Advisor