Workshop on Best Practices in Managing Diversity

The National Academy of Engineering's Committee on Diversity in the Engineering Workforce hosted a workshop entitled Best Practices in Managing Diversity on October 29-30, 2001, in Washington DC. The purpose of this workshop was to identify corporate programs that are successfully recruiting, retaining, and advancing women and underrepresented minorities in engineering careers, and to develop metrics by which to evaluate those programs. The workshop focused primarily on personnel policies and programs for engineers employed in industry and consulting services.

The goal of the workshop was to describe programs that are working and how to measure their impact, and to make that information widely available to the engineering community. Descriptions of successful programs as well as results of the workshop discussions are included in the proceedings of the workshop published in July 2002 by the National Academy Press.

AGENDA
 

MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2001
8:00 am Coffee & Pastries
 
8:15 am Welcome and Introduction
Mr. Cordell Reed, Chair, Committee on Diversity in the Engineering Workforce
 
8:30 am Keynote "Why is diversity important in engineering and technology?"
Dr. Wm. A. Wulf, NAE President
Listen to Wm. A. Wulf
Read Dr. Wulf's remarks (pdf)
 
9:00 am Session 1 -
Panel: "What works? How do you know? How do you measure success?"
Dr. Iwona Turlik, Corporate VP and Director of Motorola Advanced Technology Center
Dr. Dan Arvizu, Group VP, CH2M HILL
Mr. Richard Cowie, VP, Human Resources, Consolidated Edison
 
10:00 am Break

 
10:30 am Breakout discussions - Recruitment, Retention, Advancement
"What works? How do you know? How do you measure success?"
Goal: Capture and define best practices in each area
 
11:30 am Report back
 
12:15 pm Networking Lunch
 
12:45 pm Panel Discussion - "Voices from the Field"
Ms. Michelle Lezama, Executive Director, National Society of Black Engineers
Ms. Shelley Wolff, President, Society of Women Engineers
Mr. Jose Rivera, President, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers
Ms. Sandra Begay-Campbell, Former Executive Director, American Indian Science and Engineering Society
 
1:30 pm Session 2 - Best Practices - The Hard Stuff
Keynote "Advancing Minorities in Engineering Careers"
Dr. Willie Pearson, Georgia Tech
Read Dr. Pearson's remarks (pdf).
 
2:15 pm Breakouts/Concurrent sessions
Globalization: Ms. Lisa Nunguesser, Parsons Brinckerhoff
Dealing with lawsuits: Mr. Tom Williamson, Chair, Texaco Task Force
Effective mentoring: Ms. Janet Graham and Ms. Sara Kerr, DuPont
Dealing with backlash: Mr. Tyrone Taborn, Career Communications Group 
 
3:15 pm Break
 
3:45 pm Breakouts/Concurrent sessions
Globalization: Ms. Lisa Nunguesser, Parsons Brinckerhoff
Dealing with lawsuits: Mr. Tom Williamson, Chair, Texaco Task Force
Effective mentoring: Ms. Janet Graham and Ms. Sara Kerr, DuPont
Dealing with backlash: Mr. Tyrone Taborn, Career Communications Group 
 
4:45 pm Report back
 
5:30 pm Wrap-up and Announcements
 
5:45 pm Reception
 
6:30 pm Dinner 
 
7:30 pm Keynote Speaker - "Importance of Diversity in the Research Enterprise"
The Honorable Eddie Bernice Johnson, U.S. House of Representatives
 

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2001
8:00 am Continental Breakfast
 
8:30 am Intro and summary from previous day
 
8:45 am Session 3 - Implementing Change
Mr. Nick Donofrio, Sr. VP, Technology & Manufacturing, IBM
Listen to Nick Donofrio
 
9:15 am Breakouts "Where do we go from here?"
Research needs, policy implications and recommendations, scalability and application to small firms, scalability and application to government organizations, remaining obstacles and how to address
 
10:15 am Break
 
10:45 am Report back
 
11:30 am Closing challenge - Making the Business Case for Diversity
Mr. Jim Padilla, VP, Global Manufacturing, Ford Motor Co.
Listen to Jim Padilla
 
12:00 pm Lunch
 
1:00 pm Adjourn
 

The NAE is devoting significant energy to ensuring that the engineering workforce of the future will be strong, dynamic, and diverse, and will welcome and foster the talents of America's best and brightest. Through the Committee on Diversity in the Engineering Workforce, the NAE aims to increase the number, quality, and diversity of engineers in the U.S. by convening stakeholders to share knowledge, identify information and program needs, and initiate actions to address those needs. The workshop on Best Practices in Managing Diversity was the Committee's first step towards meeting these goals.

 
Speech
speech
Best Practices Workshop Keynote - James Padilla
Workshop on Best Practices in Managing Diversity
Best Practices Keynote - James Padilla

The Business Case for Diversity

Speech
speech
Best Practices Workshop Keynote - Willie Pearson
Workshop on Best Practices in Managing Diversity
Best Practices Keynote - Willie Pearson

Advancing Minorities in Science and Engineering Careers

Speech
speech
Best Practices Workshop Keynote - Wm A Wulf
Workship on Best Practices in Managing Diversity
Best Practices Keynote - Wm A. Wulf

Why is diversity important in engineering and technology?"

October 29, 2001
04:22 PM
Nationatl Academies Building
2101 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC