Aspire: The National Alliance for Inclusive & Diverse STEM Faculty

Efforts to increase diversity and inclusion in faculty recruitment, hiring and retention at Stevens has been ongoing for many years, supported by the strategic plan and the NSF-funded ADVANCE program. As a member of the third cohort of the Aspire Alliance Institutional Change (IChange) Network, Stevens will supercharge these efforts leading to meaningful change. 

Aimed at ensuring all STEM faculty use inclusive teaching practices and that institutions increase the diversity of their STEM professoriate, participating universities will begin their work with a self-assessment of current practices and assets. The institutions will then develop and implement campus action plans to drive change and scale such efforts across all their STEM programs. Increasing faculty diversity is a top priority at Stevens. As part of the IChange Network, Stevens has a unique opportunity to engage and partner with other STEM programs to improve faculty diversity. On Decemeber 9, 2020, the Aspire Alliance hosted a kick-off meeting for the 19 universities in the third cohort of the IChange Network.An outstanding team of Stevens faculty and staff have been identified to lead this three year initiative with work commencing in January 2021. 

Stevens Aspire I-Change Team

David Zeng (xzeng11)

David Zeng

Vice Provost for Academic Innovation & Faculty Affairs

Susan Metz

Susan Metz

Executive Director, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Valerie Guerrero Williamson Headshot

Valerie Guerrero Williamson

Program Manager, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Melanie Murtha

Melanie Murtha

Senior Director, Employee Experience

Leslie Jenkins (ljenkins)

Leslie Jenkins

Assistant Dean for Administration, Finance & Faculty Affairs

Photo of Dr. Samantha Kleinberg

Samantha Kleinberg

Associate Professor

Souran Manoochehri (smanooch)

Souran Manoochehri

Professor & Department Chair

Rainer Martini (rmartini)

Rainer Martini

Associate Professor & Associate Dean

Jose Ramirez-Marquez (jmarquez)

Jose Ramirez-Marquez

Associate Professor & Program Director

Kelland Thomas (kthomas3)

Kelland Thomas

Professor & Dean

Minghui Wang (mwang39)

Minghui Wang

Executive Director of Institutional Research & Effectiveness

Wei Zheng

Wei Zheng

Associate Professor & Roscitt Chair in Leadership

Jean Zu (jzu)

Jean Zu

Professor & Dean

Marcin Iwanicki

Marcin Iwanicki

Assistant Professor