Importance of DEI
CSUSB is a Hispanic-Serving and Minority-Serving Institution, and our department reflects that mission: about 80% of our students are students of color, roughly 75% are first-generation college students, and more than half receive Pell Grants. Building a program that genuinely supports this community isn't an add-on to what we do, it's central to it.
In recognition of this work, the Department of Physics and Astronomy earned a SEA Change Physics & Astronomy Bronze Award, a national recognition for departments that actively identify and address barriers related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. As an award recipient, we've committed to a five-year action plan to keep improving.
Some of what this looks like in practice:
- Tools for Physicists, a course created in 2020 for incoming physics majors, incorporates the Underrepresentation Curriculum, a modular curriculum built for and by STEM instructors to teach about equity and change in STEM culture. Since launching the course, student surveys show real shifts: an 84% increase in students feeling they can be themselves in the classroom, and a 91% increase in students feeling responsible for promoting diversity in physics.
- Since 2014, our department has required hiring committees to review anonymized teaching, research, and DEI statements early in the search process, to help reduce unconscious bias, a practice we believe we were the first department on campus to adopt.
- Department faculty have led CSUSB-wide efforts to expand evidence-based, inclusive teaching practices, including leading the university's NSF IUSE grant (2017-2023) that trained faculty across the College of Natural Sciences.
- The Cal-Bridge Program, which several of our faculty mentor through, provides funding and mentorship for students from underrepresented backgrounds pursuing physics and astronomy PhDs.
Looking ahead, our SEA Change action plan focuses on increasing outreach and recruitment to grow and diversify our physics majors, strengthening community and mentorship across student cohorts, and expanding career development support for our students.