System Change Evaluation of a State-System Approach to Faculty Diversification

Abstract

Women and people of color continue to be underrepresented among academic faculty in higher education, particularly in STEM fields. We use the Water Systems of Change theoretical framework and a qualitative document analysis to evaluate a case study of five institutions within a state university system that formed the NSF-funded AGEP PROMISE Academy Alliance (APAA) to address a shortage of faculty from minoritized backgrounds in the biomedical sciences. The APAA developed and implemented a novel intervention that focuses on minoritized postdoctoral scholar recruitment, development, and conversion into tenure-track faculty roles, while leveraging the state system as a collaborative body. We assess the program’s transformative influence on the university system and participating institutions, revealing changes at the structural, relational, and transformative levels.