Loyola Marymount University has been selected as one of six institutions to receive a prestigious Driving Change grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The grant will provide $2.5 million over five years to support genuine and lasting culture change so that undergraduate students from all backgrounds, particularly students from underrepresented groups, have truly equitable experiences and opportunities to excel in STEM – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Headed by Heather Tarleton, Ph.D., professor of health and human sciences and inaugural associate dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for LMU Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering, the grant required a yearslong application and review process, including a rigorous institutional self-study and collaboration between Seaver leadership and faculty to prepare for grant submission. The six finalists selected for this first round of grants were announced on Oct. 31, 2022, and will receive $500,000 annually for five years to launch their Driving Change projects.
“We are teacher-scholars — it’s not just our traditional research that matters, we also need to be pedagogical scholars, scholars of equity-centered practices,” said Tarleton. “We are called to a higher standard because of our mission. To educate the whole person, we must first understand and acknowledge the identities and lived experiences of our students. To promote justice, we must first understand and counter the injustices that our education system has perpetuated to-date. I’m hoping that this grant supports the faculty in being able to do the work of our mission.”
The funds will be used to develop a summer faculty institute to provide full-time Seaver College faculty with knowledge around systemic racism and the impact on the learning environment, support for their development as equity-minded practitioners, and implementation of equity-centered data collection, stewardship, and assessment practices to empower Seaver College leadership, faculty, and campus partners to elevate the success of all students.
Tarleton’s focus for the institute will be developing STEM faculty through the lens of equity, encouraging them to avoid the so-called colorblindness and neutrality that is current in STEM research to move toward a place where STEM students are encouraged to bring all of their identities to the table. The desired outcome is lasting systemic institutional transformation that begins with equity- and student-centered faculty. “Diversity of experience and diversity of thought are the foundations of creativity, curiosity, and innovation. When we force people to conform to our idea of what a scientist or engineer should look like, sound like, be like, we lose,” said Tarleton. “We lose when we don’t allow students to show all of their identities in the classroom.”
“Two years ago, in the wake of a nationwide reckoning, LMU communities of color came together in allyship to challenge their university to do better,” said Executive Vice President and Provost Thomas Poon, Ph.D. “This grant affirms LMU’s collective commitment to anti-racism at multiple levels, and I thank the HHMI and Seaver College for their dedication to advancing STEM education through shared equity leadership.”
Faculty from numerous disciplines within the university were involved in the planning and execution of the institutes, including:
- Christina Eubanks Turner, graduate program director and professor of mathematics
- Suzanne Larson, associate dean and professor of mathematics
- Barbara Marino, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering
- Jeremy McCallum, professor of chemistry and biochemistry
- Katie Mouzakis, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry
- Heather Tarleton, associate dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and professor of health and human sciences
- Christina Vasquez, assistant professor of biology
- Kat Weaver, vice provost for Research, Professional Development, and Online Learning and professor of biology
To learn more about LMU’s DEI initiatives, visit the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s website.
