Work-in-Progress: A Faculty Development Response to Integration of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion into the Engineering Curriculum

This work-in-progress paper will discuss the evolving response by an engineering education center to proposed changes in the ABET general criteria for accrediting engineering programs relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). ABET is a "nonprofit, ISO 9001 certified organization that accredits programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering and engineering technology."The paper will discuss the plan of the Leonhard Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Education located in the College of Engineering at Pennsylvania State University to help faculty and departments meet the proposed changes in ABET criteria relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion. In addition, the College's strategic plan calls for the integration of DEI into the curriculum, leading to a changing emphasis in the work being done in the Center. This paper would likely be of interest to engineering educators and other faculty developers who will have to demonstrate that their engineering programs meet ABET accreditation requirements or have similar strategic goals. In addition, the paper will describe current and evolving efforts to date as well as discuss the challenges that occurred during the development of the DEI curricular integration and training plan.