Historical and Institutional Context

Rutgers University-Camden is located in Camden, NJ, a once prosperous city that served as an industrial hub and land-to-water transport center, due to its location across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, PA. The workforce in Camden consisted primarily of immigrants and African Americans from the rural South; these workers faced physically demanding and hazardous labor conditions. Economic decline, and other difficulties, led to a diminished tax base in Camden and a higher proportion of residents of color. Camden continues to grapple with environmental and economic challenges, which disproportionately impact minoritized and low-socioeconomic residents.

RUC has a diverse student population, with over 6000 undergraduate and graduate students from countries across the globe and 18% African American and 19% Hispanic/Latino representation. Rutgers is committed to meeting a high standard of excellence, which includes a commitment to equity and inclusion. Yet, despite this commitment, retention and graduation rates of historically excluded groups in STEM (HEG-STEM) students continue to lag behind white and Asian students. These historical, economical, and social contexts served as a foundation for the Rutgers-Camden Driving Change Initiative.

Commitment to Equity and Sustainability

An institutional self-study was conducted on the Rutgers University-Camden campus in order to evaluate the university’s equity goals and identify barriers to successful engagement with these goals. Following the self-study, various factors were identified as strengths or weaknesses of the university in ensuring the success of our HEG-STEM students. Armed with these identified factors, the Institute for Empowering Equitable Education in STEM was established in order to:

• Drive cultural and structural changes for more equitable Pedagogy & Course Design
• Drive cultural and structural changes for more inclusive Curricular & Program Design
• Drive cultural and structural changes that promote equitable university policies

The goal of the Institute is to be Rutgers-Camden’s central resource for continuously developing and executing creative initiatives specifically for attainting STEM equity and fostering an inclusive STEM environment. Through our efforts, we hope to facilitate several grassroots efforts to unite individuals throughout the RUC STEM ecosystem to achieve a critical mass of culturally competent faculty, students, and staff who can prioritize and sustain these efforts.