NSF INCLUDES Aspire Alliance

University of Georgia Impact

• The University of Georgia along with five collaborative partners are leading the NSF INCLUDES Aspire Alliance—a 5-year, $10 million NSF-funded effort to diversify STEM faculty and promote more inclusive practices.

• Aspire engages a growing network of partners to support systemic change in the STEM higher education ecosystem.
  

NSF INCLUDES Aspire Alliance’s Approach

The NSF INCLUDES Aspire Alliance is pursuing three mutually reinforcing strategic goals—all focused on faculty.

1. Prepare current and future STEM faculty to be more inclusive and effective in their undergraduate teaching, research mentoring, and advising;
2. Diversify the faculty by effectively recruiting, hiring, and retaining underrepresented STEM faculty and transforming practices, policies, and resources to support these efforts; and
3. Foster institutional cultures that recognize and value inclusivity and diversity broadly.

The overarching strategy of the Aspire effort is to affect change by aligning and reinforcing professional development and hiring practices of STEM faculty at institutional, regional, and national levels.

• Institutional Change: Building communities of practice, both within and across institutions, to address inclusive hiring and retention practices. Institutions are conducting self-assessment exercises and developing action plans within a cohort of institutions. Key programs include: IAspire Leadership Academy; Institutional Change (IChange) Network; and IThrive Collective.
• Regional Change: Building regional networks of 2- and 4-year institutions and the private sector. These groups are focusing on preparing, developing, and on-boarding skilled and diverse faculty in 2-year colleges where many underrepresented students begin higher education. Aspire is supporting 6 Regional Collaboratives; two in California, two in Texas, and one in Florida and Iowa.
• National Change: Developing resources about inclusive teaching, research mentoring, and advising while partnering with national organizations to promote these inclusive and diverse experiences. Key activities include: Inclusive Professional Framework and Aspire Summer Institute.

Together, these efforts are creating a national systemic change environment for STEM faculty. The University of Georgia Extension within the College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia is proud to host the IAspire Leadership Academy.

The NSF INCLUDES Aspire Alliance is cooperatively led by:

• Association of Public and Land-grant Universities
• University of Wisconsin Madison
• University of Georgia
• Iowa State University
• University of California Los Angeles
• University of Texas at El Pason