Mmmm…omelet.

Hi Kassel,
Thanks for the fruitful comment. Regarding your question, I think it is a challenging task and it requires top leadership commitment as you mentioned. Introducing interdisciplinary courses that bridge the gap between engineering and social science especially through integrating social and environmental justice lens in core engineering courses could be a very good step to start. But more importantly, adapting engagement and critical pedagogy approaches, fostering constructivist view about knowledge rather than positivist which is dominant in engineering, reforming the culture in the profession ( engineers identity, values,..). Without changing the pedagogy, and reforming the underlying philosophy and culture, the root causes of the problem will not be noticed let alone be resolved.

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I definitely agree! Instructors are increasingly trying to push us to learn everything that they feel we should learn in a class. Now that I am in grad school, I am better able to determine what I want out of a course. It is difficult to have this mentality while taking an undergrad course as a grad student because professors often assign busy work for the purpose of busy work and not for the purpose of learning. I think this comes from a place of distrust on the part of the professor and them forgetting that these students are here because they want to learn something. If professors remember that, then we can have a healthier learning environment and a more symbiotic relation between student and teacher.

I also went through this way of thinking that you have outlined here. In undergrad, it was all just busy work, but looking back, there are valuable things I learned and carry with me from those courses. Even now I seek out language courses and the like to round myself out and increase my creativity.

I enjoyed reading your story and how you “beat the system” and came back to teaching after working in the industry. Your statement reminds me of a webcomic I saw the other day. I tried to post the link but I got flagged for spam so I’ll do my best to describe it. Basically, a woman was told “you can’t do it” and each frame was her steps to getting a degree but she had a HUGE angry frown in each frame. I’ll try and show you in class if you’re interested.

Hi Pallavi,

Well said and I think that it’s really important to bring these issues to light. It is so much more difficult for people of color, especially international students or faculty, to teach and even conduct research in large, predominantly white universities. My father, who came to the United States to get his PhD, was never able to get a professor job because his “English wasn’t good enough.” Obviously, it was good enough for him to pass the TOEFL and get a PhD degree. A common theme in academia is that departments will hire people from diverse backgrounds but they fail to include or promote them. Now I see many international graduate students come to the states and then return home to teach in their countries. I like to think that we are becoming more inclusive in our universities but progress is slow and frustrating. Thank you for sharing your stories. I know we’ve talked about some of these topics before but I think everyone should know.

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Thanks for sharing this story. Sometimes we often forget who’s responsibility it is to do “the human thing” but everyone should take action for something like that instead of waiting for someone else to do something. Setting a good example is definitely positive for your fellow colleagues.

Thanks for your post! I especially appreciate what you shared about the students leaving positive comments on tests and how that made grading more enjoyable. One of the things that I have learned through this class is the importance for both student and teacher to find and retain enjoyment of learning. I know that this is something that I frequently lose sight of and I hope to be more mindful of this as I go forward as a student and educator.

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Mohammed, thank you for your post! It was really interesting to read about all the different paths you have taken in your education in order to become a better engineer (and, I think, a better citizen). Too often, as you recognized, the social sciences and engineering remained siloed from each other, such that it can be difficult for either group to see how specifically they relate to each other. In order to make both, and the students of both, better and more able to cause change using these fields’ principles, there has to be more interdisciplinary discussion. This should be encouraged from the top down, and not occur because students like you are seeking something extra and therefore go outside of their subdiscipline to discover the knowledge they seek. I do wonder how to inspire the kind of thinking you have developed through your diverse educational experience within a single undergraduate program.

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Tim, thank you for this raw and honest reflection. It relates so much to how I feel about graduate school, but also this class. Early on in this semester, I had a breakdown and called my dad. The issues I was having with and in my graduate program made me question whether I belonged in graduate school or not (and if yes, if Virginia Tech was really the place for me or if I should just start again somewhere else). Academia did not seem like what I always thought it was and admired about it. My lasting dream of being a professor at a small liberal arts college providing research opportunities to undergraduates at these schools that don’t normally get them seemed so small in the face of what I was beginning to see as insurmountable issues in higher education. I did not think I could deal with those issues, and if I could not fix those, what did my dream matter? But this class gave me a new perspective. Yes, there are the issues I noticed (and some I had not yet even thought about!)–but I am not the only one who has noticed them. Furthermore, I people have proposed solutions. Working together, we can change academia for the better.

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