Critical & Creative Design Thinking Program

I AM STEM Symposium

I Am Stem Header

I AM STEM Symposium: September 6, 2024

Participants may earn 0.90 CEU credits or 9 SHCRM PDC credits by paying an additional $10 after you register and elect that option. At the end of the symposium, participants who elected the CEU's or SCHRM PDC's will be emailed a link to purchase them

To eliminate financial barriers that might prevent one from participating in the symposium, there may be scholarship funds available.  If you want to apply for this scholarship support, please email your answers to the following questions to SAR-iamstem@usf.edu

  • What is your name/ contact information- name/email.
  • Why do you need support?
  • Why  is attending this event important to you?
  • How will this scholarship support your future aims?

Register Now

Virtual: $25 

This is a friendly conversation/co-learning experience for anyone interested.

Attendees will gain access to a course with materials/resources and access to ongoing network meetings and collaborations. 

Who Should Attend: Faculty, students, industry leaders, organizational leaders and advocates, people who experience disabilities and/or their allies, and anyone interested in thinking about transformational success

STEM faculty:

Responsible for driving inclusion in constructing our curriculum, learning, research spaces, and practices to broaden participation in STEM.  Our thinking around the scoping of skills/ performance expectations can evolve to include broader involvement.

K-12 Educators:

Responsible for ascertaining techniques and strategies to use in primary and secondary schools to enhance student learning and achievement and prepare for postsecondary experiences.  Our content and inclusive pedagogy are strengthened when we collaborate to meet the needs of STEM industries.

University faculty:  

Responsible for course accessibility in teaching and learning, the utility of Universal Design for Learning for student success outcomes, and developing a learning community that values all. Our content and inclusive pedagogy are strengthened when we collaborate to meet the needs of STEM industries.

STEM industry leaders and HR professionals:

Responsible for creating workplace culture, building collaborations with workforce preparation pipelines to identify and recruit employees, and creating policies and procedures to support a diverse workforce.  Creating mutual, reciprocal partnerships with universities can increase STEM graduates' knowledge and skills and increase the STEM workforce's diversity.

Disability Advocates, Allies, Organizations, and employees who identify with a disability:

Responsible for advocating for the educational, legal, and/or career placement/advancement of those who experience disability.  The needs of your community should shape school, university, and workplace policies, procedures, and practices.  Your voices are very important in this Inclusive Accessibility Movement in STEM!

About I AM STEM

The Critical & Creative Design Thinking Program of the University of South Florida, in collaboration with the Fram Chair in Applied Critical Thinking of Rochester Institute of Technology and Ohio State University, is thrilled to announce the inaugural Inclusive Accessibility Movement in STEM (I AM STEM): Transformative Thinking for Action Symposium. This series of gatherings will promote and embed a network aimed at designing, improving, and sharing best practices for Transformative thinking in action for STEM inclusion.  

We are excited to offer a very unique symposium format. Attendees will be engaged in collaborative discussions and design sessions after listening to presentations by academic and industry speakers. 

We anticipate this symposium to be the first of many. 

More details to come as we announce speakers and more! 

Agenda
Introductions and Overview 9:00am - 9:30am 

Accessibility Challenges in Early STEM Ecosystems
A panel discussion which explores the challenges faced in early STEM ecosystems, including first year in college, internships, onboarding and early career in STEM industries and how to build reciprocal networks.

*This session will be livestreamed and participants will be able to ask questions through the chat feature.

 9:30am - 10:30am

Break

 10:30am - 10:45am

Fireside Chat Panel Discussion

Fireside Chat Panelist 1: Bill Harkness, Commercial Airplanes Engineering Accessibility Leader at Boeing (Recognized as a Disability: IN Corporate Partner)
Fireside Chat Panelist 2:  Lynn Wherman, CEO of Digital Accessibility by WeCo (Recognized as a Leading Disability Employer by the National Organization on Disability)
Fireside Chat Panelist 3:  Darelyn Pazdel, Vice President of Workforce Inclusion at Pride Industries (Recognized as a Leading Disability Employer by the National Organization on Disability)
Fireside Chat Panelist 4:  Larry Ross, Job Coach & Program Success Manager, auticon (Recognized as a Leading Disability Employer by the National Organization on Disability)
Fireside Chat Panelists 5:  Joe Brazier, Director of Industry Strategy, Education & Laurie Allen, Sr Technology Accessibility Technology Evangelist from Microsoft (Recognized as a 2024 Best Places to Work for Disability Inclusion by Disability: IN)

 10:45am - 11:30am

Brainstorming and Next Steps

 11:30am - 12:15pm

 

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