Recruiting, Retaining, and Advancing Women in STEM at an HBCU:A Model for Institutional Transformation

Women, especially women of color (WOC), STEM faculty are underrepresented in full professor and leadership positions and overrepresented in non-tenure track positions. It is essential to develop organizational-level approaches which foster equitable and sustainable practices that lead to the success of women STEM faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The purpose of this paper is to share a model for institutional transformation focusing on recruitment, retention, and advancement of women STEM faculty. We describe our approaches, outcomes, challenges, successes, and lessons learned to serve as a model for other institutions. In order to transform our institution, we focused on changes in policy, practice, and programming. Several approaches were implemented to increase the number of women STEM faculty and position them for leadership opportunities. Our outcomes demonstrate that by implementing multi-faceted strategies we have successfully moved the needle for institutional transformation

Narratives of Black Women STEM Faculty: Breaking Barriers to Promote Institutional Transformation at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Women faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), experience many barriers. HBCUs’ rich histories of advancing racial equity have often outweighed a focus on gender equity, with issues at the intersection of race and gender receiving minimal attention. This study highlights the need for institutional transformation at HBCUs by identifying the structural factors that promote and inhibit Black women STEM faculty advancement. Interviews (n=15) were conducted with HBCU Black women STEM faculty using the Life Interview approach. The three major themes related to barriers included: (a) greater likelihood of having their expertise questioned, (b) increased pressure to work harder, and (c) sexism, racism, and gendered racism. This study expands upon existing research in the literature by focusing on an understudied population, Black women STEM faculty at HBCUs. Findings suggest that to advance institutional transformation diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, colleges and universities must establish infrastructures that include supports of benefit to the professional advancement of all faculty

The Effectiveness of a Novel Cartridge-Based Bioreactor Design in Supporting Liver Cells

There are a number of applications—ranging from temporary strategies for organ failure to pharmaceutical testing—that rely on effective bioreactor designs. The significance of these devices is that they provide an environment for maintaining cells in a way that allows them to perform key cellular and tissue functions. In the current study, a novel cartridge-based bioreactor was developed and evaluated. Its unique features include its capacity for cell support and the adaptable design of its cellular space. Specifically, it is able to accommodate functional and reasonably sized tissue (>2.0 × 108 cells), and can be easily modified to support a range of anchorage-dependent cells. To evaluate its efficacy, it was applied to liver support in the current study. This involved evaluating the performance of rat primary hepatocytes within the unique cartridges in culture—sans bioreactor—and after being loaded within the novel bioreactor. Compared to collagen sandwich culture functional controls, hepatocytes within the unique cartridge design demonstrated significantly higher albumin production and urea secretion rates when cultured under dynamic flow conditions—reaching peak values of 170 ± 22 μg/106 cells/day and 195 ± 18 μg/106 cells/day, respectively. The bioreactor's effectiveness in supporting live and functioning primary hepatocytes is also presented. Cell viability at the end of 15 days of culture in the new bioreactor was 84 ± 18%, suggesting that the new design is effective in maintaining primary hepatocytes for at least 2 weeks in culture. Liver-specific functions of urea secretion, albumin synthesis, and cytochrome P450 activity were also assessed. The results indicate that hepatocytes are able to achieve good functional performance when cultured within the novel bioreactor. This is especially true in the case of cytochrome P450 activity, where by day 15 of culture, hepatocytes within the bioreactor reached values that were 56.6% higher than achieved by the collagen sandwich functional control cultures. The success of the novel cartridge-based bioreactor in supporting hepatocytes with good viability and functional performance suggests that it is an effective design for supporting anchorage-dependent cells