How Inclusive R1s Sustain Workplace Belonging for Black and Hispanic Engineering Faculty

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Abstract

Improving future workplace inclusion in academia requires understanding the historical and institutional contexts that sustain exclusion. This qualitative study examines how two public research-intensive universities, identified as inclusive environments for Black and Hispanic Engineering Faculty (BHEF), conceptualize and enact diversity. Using Stake’s (2013) multiple case study approach, we conducted semi-structured interviews with institutional stakeholders (faculty, staff, students, administrators) and analyzed key documents. We explored what motivates diversity strategies, how institutional levels align around inclusion efforts, and how these approaches are sustained. Findings reveal that supportive leadership, mission-driven action, adaptability to resistance, responsiveness to community demographics, and site-specific policy decisions, collectively shape and support workplace inclusion for BHEF, offering a framework for reimagining equitable academic futures.

Authors

• Henry Tran, University of South Carolina

• Spencer Platt, University of South Carolina

• Kerwin Johnson, University of South Carolina