The persistence of undergraduate and graduate students in chemical careers is influenced daily by the faculty role models who shape their educational and research environments.  While the demographics of the U.S. and student populations are evolving at ever-accelerating rates, faculty diversity and the academic culture experienced by individuals from under-represented groups change at a significantly slower pace.  In order to fully utilize our nation's intellectual capacity, it is critical to establish faculty demographics and educational environments that not only reflect but also embrace the composition and multi-cultural realities of our society in terms of gender, race-ethnicity, sexual orientation, and disability status. The Open Chemistry Collaborative in Diversity Equity (OXIDE) aims to reduce inequities that have historically led to disproportionate diversity representation on academic faculties by leading an ongoing national conversation between chairs of leading doctoral-granting chemistry departments, representatives from diversity communities, and social scientists with diversity-related expertise.  This presentation will discuss OXIDE's activities, which are driven by:social science research;the chairs' and departments' needs and experiences; andthe demographic data from over 75 leading chemistry departments that are collected annually by OXIDE and published in Chemical and Engineering News.

Who teaches matters:  OXIDE's role in advancing multicultural perspectives in research-active chemistry departments

245th National Meeting (2013)

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