Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion in STEM: Utilizing Faculty Professional Development to Foster Culturally Responsive Teaching and Inclusive Excellence in Physics and other STEM Disciplines

Racial and gender minority student representation in STEM fields continues to face significant disparities, exacerbated by systemic and programmatic barriers such as a lack of belonging, discrimination, isolation, stereotype threat, and insufficient mentorship or institutional support. These barriers contribute to high attrition rates and unequal graduation outcomes. To address these challenges, STEM faculty must be equipped to integrate justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) into their teaching to foster greater student success. This presentation will discuss the preliminary outcomes of The JEDI in STEM Project, an initiative at the University of La Verne, an Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), aimed at training faculty to incorporate JEDI principles into their courses.

The project’s professional development activities focused on improving faculty self-efficacy, promoting culturally sustaining practices (CSP), and increasing the use of inclusive teaching strategies within STEM classrooms. Over one academic year, faculty cohorts applied these concepts to revise curricula and integrate CSP into their courses, particularly focusing on gateway courses.