Loading Events

ISTEP Speaker Series – Allison Godwin

Tue May 27, 2025 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

UBelong! Stories as a Promising Intervention to Address Equity Gaps in First-Year Engineering

Abstract

This talk describes an ongoing multi-institutional project focused on developing and implementing an ecological belonging intervention in engineering using stories developed through focus groups with students who previously took a first-year engineering programming course. The ecological belonging intervention is a one-time 45-minute intervention delivered in class that conveys the message that typical struggle is normal and surmountable. We hypothesize that these stories undermine stereotype threat and promote social belonging. This presentation will discuss the emerging results of quasi-experimental implementation and longitudinal interviews. Our data indicates that the intervention has significant impacts on student belonging, equity gaps in the course, and retention from survey and institutional data. Finally, we will discuss the emerging results of qualitative research with the faculty delivering the intervention that indicate this intervention also shapes positive experiences for faculty.

Speaker Biography

Allison Godwin, Ph.D. is the Dr. G. Stephen Irwin ‘67, ‘68 Professor of Engineering Education Research in the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University. Her research focuses on how identity, among other affective factors, influences diverse students to choose engineering and persist in engineering. She also studies how different experiences within the practice and culture of engineering foster or hinder belonging and identity development. Dr. Godwin graduated from Clemson University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D. in Engineering and Science Education. Her research earned her a 2016 National Science Foundation CAREER Award focused on characterizing latent diversity, which includes diverse attitudes, mindsets, and approaches to learning to understand engineering students’ identity development. She has won several awards for her research including the 2021 Journal of Civil Engineering Education Best Technical Paper, the 2021 Chemical Engineering Education William H. Corcoran Award, the 2022 American Educational Research Association Education in the Professions (Division I) 2021-2022 Outstanding Research Publication Award, and the 2023 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Award for Excellence in Engineering Education Research.

ISTEP_Speaker_Series-1920-×-1080-px-3-768x432

Event Details

Venue:

Venue

GB202 – Gailbrath Building – Room 202, 35 St George St, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A4, Canada

Details

Date:
Tue May 27, 2025
Time:
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Event Category:
Website:
https://istep.utoronto.ca/event/istep-speaker-series-allison-godwin/

Share Event

Upcoming Events

All
  • All
  • Alumni events
  • Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office events
  • Convocation events
  • Faculty & staff events
  • Info sessions
  • Lectures, seminars and workshops
  • Socials
  • U of T holidays & closures

41st Student Research Conference

Fri May 9, 2025 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Toronto Biomedical Engineering Conference (ToBE) May 9, 2025 The Toronto Biomedical Engineering Conference (ToBE) is a student-organized event aimed at bringing together the biomedical engineering community at the University of Toronto....

Presidential Day

Fri May 16, 2025
The university will be closed.

Victoria Day

Mon May 19, 2025
The university will be closed.  Enjoy the long weekend!

U of T Alumni Reunion 2025

Wed May 28, 2025 - Sun June 1, 2025
Old friends. New experiences. For so many alumni, U of T was a time of new experiences and Alumni Reunion 2025 is your chance to create more. Come catch up...