Summary

Dr. Trina Fletcher shares with us the origins and continued relevance of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) on STEM more broadly and engineering, specifically. Dr. Fletcher shares her journey in engineering education, from her path through UAPB’s STEM academy to her graduate experiences where she found a purpose-focused, people-centric approach to graduate engineering. The conversation delves into the history and purpose of HBCUs, the current landscape for minority-serving institutions, and the impact of funding and policy decisions on HBCUs. We discuss ABET accreditation, program models like 2+3 pathways, and the opportunities and challenges facing HBCU engineering programs today. Dr. Fletcher offers perspectives on the future of engineering education at HBCUs, potential pathways for collaboration, and the scholars and initiatives to watch.

Fletcher, T. L., Jefferson, J. P., Boyd, B., Park, S. E., & Crumpton‐Young, L. (2023). Impact of COVID‐19 on sense of belonging: Experiences of engineering students, faculty, and staff at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Journal of Engineering Education, 112(2), 488-520.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jee.20512

Name Drop

Dr. Monica F. Cox

Dr. Erin Lynch

Dr. Shaun Harper

Dr. MaryBeth Gasman

Dr. Walter Kimbrough

Dr. Jelani M. Favors

Dr. Ivory Toldson

Dr. Robert T. Palmer

QEM - QEM Heros - https://qem.org/project/heroes-program/

Institutions to watch:

Morgan State University

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

Report:

CMSI The MacKenzie Scott Donations to Historically Black Colleges and Universities:Exploring the Data Landscape

https://cmsi.gse.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/ScottHBCU_Report%20Final.pdf

Join us as we discuss engineering education in India, with a focus on the career path of Dr. Rucha Joshi, an Associate Professor at Plaksha University. Dr. Joshi shares her journey into engineering education, her current research projects, leadership role, and her perspective on the focus of the engineering education community in India. We also discuss the importance of collaborations, priorities in the community, and conferences in India that may be of interest to the broader engineering education community.

Name Drop

Dr. Rohit Kandakatla

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohitkandakatla/?originalSubdomain=in

Dr. Preethi Baligar -

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-preethi-baligar-18596415a/?originalSubdomain=in

Dr. Bill Oakes (William Oakes) -

https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-bill-oakes-12072113/

Dr. Shannon Chance -

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonchance7/?originalSubdomain=ie

Siara Isaac -

https://people.epfl.ch/siara.isaac?lang=en

Dr. Joelyn de Lima -

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelyndelima/?originalSubdomain=ch

Recommended Conferences in India:

https://ictiee.org/ictiee2026/

Compute : https://isigcse.acm.org/compute/2025/

IIT Bombay, IIT Chennai

https://www.et.iitb.ac.in/

For Engineering Education Research & Pedagogy: IUCEE is the most established choice in India. https://iucee.org/annual-conference/

For Education Technology Research

International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E): Technology For, Of, In, Across Education, 13th. Sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Organized by the EdTech Society, India and hosted by IIT Madras. T4E 2025 will be held in Chennai, India. https://etsociety.org/t4e-2025/ or https://etsociety.org/product-category/event/

iSIGCSE conference - Compute - https://isigcse.acm.org/compute/

https://isigcse.acm.org/compute/2025/

Other broader engineering conferences with Educational Tracks often happen at IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Chennai, and IIT Gandhinagar, etc. premier institutes.

Summary: This beautiful conversation was so rich we have split it into two episodes. Thank you in advance for your patience.

Join us for a conversation between a recently retired mentor, Dr. Bevlee Watford and their recently promoted mentee, Dr. Walter Lee. While their faculty careers at Virginia Tech started decades apart, their stories are woven together by a shared interest in developing the systems and programs that support engineering students who hold marginalized identities. In this episode, they share what led them to careers that center student support and their unique approaches to decision making while leading CEED. Their enviable mentoring relationship includes strategies anyone can adopt; and their wisdom on navigating the shifting landscape is timeless.

Name Drop:

Center for Engineering Excellence and Discovery (CEED)

Susan Lasser

Hassan Aref

Malcolm McPherson

Lynn Nystrom

Kamyar Haghighi

Rising Scholars and their scholarship:

Carol Geary

      Peer Mentoring Programs Survivability: How Programs React When Bad

Things Happen

Tasha Zephirin

      Persistence through community: An exploratory study of student support in

Purdue University's NSBE chapter

Malini Josiam

      An Investigation of the Perspectives of Women of Color on the Cultures of       Undergraduate Engineering

Taylor Johnson

      "You Have to Focus on School...You Can't Focus on Getting Paid": A Multi-

Study Exploration of Perspectives on and Experiences of Engineering

Students Who Work

Article mention:

Su, L. K. (2010). Quantification of diversity in engineering higher education in the United States. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 16(2).

https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/00551c876cc2f027,69ab3d9d13586e06,0e19b121603f0805.html

Department of Education degree reclassification (referenced in Part 2) -

https://azat.tv/en/degrees-redefined-nursing-engineering-and-more-lose-professional-status-under-new-federal-rules/