Diversity in Engineering (Compass Series (Washington, D.C.).)

170 Pages·2002·4.36 MB·English

by  National Academy of Engineering, Committee on Diversity in the Engineering Workforce

Diversity in Engineering
Managing the Workforce of
the Future
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COMMITTEE ON DIVERSITY
IN THE ENGINEERING WORKFORCE
Cordell Reed, chair, Senior Vice President (retired), Commonwealth Edison
Company
Sandra Begay-Campbell, Senior Member of Technical Staff, Sandia National
Laboratories
Suzanne Brainard, Director, Center for Workforce Development, University
of Washington
Daryl Chubin, Senior Vice President, Policy and Research, National Action
Council for Minorities in Engineering
Jose B. Cruz, Jr., Howard D. Winbigler Chair and Professor of Electrical
Engineering, Ohio State University
William Friend, Executive Vice President and Director (retired), Bechtel
Group, Inc.
Suzanne Jenniches, Vice President of Communications Systems, Northrop-
Grumman Corporation
Cathy Lasser, Vice President B2B Initiatives, IBM Corporation
Benjamin Montoya, President and CEO (retired), Public Service Company of
New Mexico
David M. Porter, Jr., Assistant Professor of Human Resources and
Organizational Behavior, Anderson Graduate School of Management,
University of California-Los Angeles
James West, Senior Research Scientist, Bell Laboratories
NAE Staff
Peggy Layne, NAE Fellow and Program Officer
Nathan Kahl, Senior Project Assistant
Katie Gramling, Research Assistant
Proctor Reid, Associate Director, Program Office
Carol R. Arenberg, Managing Editor
v
Preface
Proportionately fewer women and underrepresented minorities are found in
the engineering profession than in the U.S. workforce in general and in all other
scientific or technical fields. As Wm. A. Wulf, president of the National Academy
of Engineering (NAE), has noted, for the United States to remain competitive in
a global technological society, the country as a whole must take serious steps to
ensure that we have a diverse, well trained, multicultural workforce. To further
that goal, the NAE established the Program on Diversity in the Engineering
Workforce, which leads the NAE’s efforts to increase diversity in the U.S. engi-
neering workforce, by bringing together stakeholders from industry, government,
academia, and nonprofit organizations to share their knowledge, identify needs,
and discuss ways to address those needs.
As first steps towards addressing this issue, the NAE convened the “Summit
on Women in Engineering” in May 1999, developed the “Celebration of Women
in Engineering” web site (www.nae.edu/cwe), and convened a workshop to de-
velop a business case for diversity in September 1999. The Committee on Diver-
sity in the Engineering Workforce was established in November 1999, followed
by the Forum on Diversity in the Engineering Workforce in January 2000. The
workshop, “Best Practices in Managing Diversity,” is the latest in the NAE’s
ongoing efforts to increase diversity in engineering.
The workshop brought together leaders of corporations that have been recog-
nized for outstanding diversity programs and members of the NAE Committee
and the NAE Forum on Diversity in the Engineering Workforce. Many thanks to
the members of the committee and forum for their assistance in identifying and
recruiting workshop speakers and participants and facilitating and reporting on
breakout discussions.
vii
viii PREFACE
The papers in this volume represent the authors’ views as presented at the
workshop. The questions and answers and summaries of the breakout discussions
were taken from a transcript of the workshop. The participants did not attempt to
provide any formal conclusions or recommendations, focusing instead on collect-
ing information and informing the discussion of the issues.
Contents
Executive Summary 1
Introduction 6
Cordell Reed
The Importance of Diversity in Engineering 8
Wm. A. Wulf
BEST PRACTICES IN MANAGING DIVERSITY:
A PANEL DISCUSSION
Introduction 17
Mary C. Mattis
Diversity Practices at CH2M HILL 20
Daniel E. Arvizu
Diversity Practices at Motorola 24
Iwona Turlik
Diversity Practices at Consolidated Edison 30
Richard P. Cowie
Question and Answer Session 33
SUMMARIES OF MORNING BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Recruitment, Retention, Advancement: What Works? 41
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