News

http://djcoregon.com/news/2010/07/19/diversity-lacking-in-engineering-architecture/

The city of Portland's difficulty in finding minority architects and engineers to participate in its Minority Evaluator Program comes as no surprise to many who say the professions have long been lacking in diversity, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.

The city launched the program in May with the goal of requiring at least one minority evaluator to sit on all panels that review and award non-low-bid city contracts. Program manager Tiffani Penson said her biggest challenge thus far has been recruiting minority architects and engineers to serve as evaluators.

"Usually if you do have people of color in those categories, they are either bidding for the jobs or working for companies that are bidding for the jobs," she said.

Penson said she plans to direct her outreach efforts toward minority architects, engineers and sustainability professionals in the coming weeks. However, she acknowledged that her pool of potential candidates is likely limited.

"Portland is not the most diverse city, so, that being said, there's going to be a lack of diversity in those particular fields," Penson said.

"I think more recruitment is needed to get more people interested in those fields, and that effort to raise awareness should start in grade school," she added. "Architects and engineers need to give people of color some insight during their youth that these are great fields to work in."

Of the country's 192,860 registered architects, 6.3 percent are Asian, 5.6 percent are Hispanic, 2.7 percent are black and 0.3 percent is Native American, according to the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau.

Minorities make up just 6 percent of the American Institute of Architects' 52,000 members, according to a diversity study AIA commissioned in 2005. Three percent are Asian, 2 percent are Hispanic/Latino and 1 percent is black.

The profession's lack of diversity nationally reflects its history as one dominated by white men, said Christine Theodoropoulos, head of the University of Oregon's architecture department.

"I don't think we have a really good handle on why it's perpetuated, but I think we understand that traditionally architecture and similar professions have been ‘gentlemen's professions,' " she said.

"We don't really understand why it's not changing at the same rate as other professions, like medicine or the law, but we do know that we're not doing as well as other professions when it comes to diversity," Theodoropoulos added.

Architecture and engineering departments in the Oregon University System have ramped up efforts to attract minorities. Portland State University last year joined a five-year, $2.6 million partnership to double the number of minority students who graduate with bachelor's degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

The Pacific Northwest Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, which received money from the National Science Foundation, also includes Oregon State University, the University of Washington, Washington State University and Boise State University.

According to PSU, minority enrollment at schools participating in the national program has grown from 35,670 in 1991 to more than 205,000 in 2003. Almost 25,000 bachelor's degrees are earned each year by minority students as a result of the initiative.

Participants take part in a summer bridge program for acclimatization purposes. They also have access to academic services for STEM courses, a seminar about STEM-related career options and support from faculty mentors.

PSU has partnered with schools in Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro and Gresham to connect with eligible students. PSU also recruits students who participate in Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA), the Northwest Science Expo and Saturday Academy.

OSU also has established a program in which "ambassadors" travel to high schools throughout the state to introduce students to engineering. OSU's ambassadors also help out at 4-H camps, summer programs and Boys & Girls Clubs, said Ellen Momsen, the program's director.

Momsen, also director of OSU's Women and Minorities in Engineering Program, said the university has received funding from Intel to offer a summer bridge program in September for first-year minority students.

UO's School of Architecture and Allied Arts has developed a diversity plan that includes scholarships for minority students, lectures and other events that highlight minority-related design issues, and recruitment efforts in local middle and high schools.

In addition, Theodoropoulos has received a grant to network with architecture professors at historically black colleges and universities so students at those schools can collaborate with UO students on design studios and other projects.

Theodoropoulos said that while the architecture profession may be slow to change in terms of diversity, recent efforts to attract and support minority students are showing results. Already, a half-dozen minority students have enrolled in the UO's architecture school through the Promising Scholar Award program.

"This is a dialogue that is happening university-wide," she said. "The UO, like many of the state schools, is perceived as a majority school, and one of the critical factors in engaging minority students is to create an environment where they feel welcome and comfortable so they will want to come here."