Toward an Anti-Racist Engineering Classroom for 2020 and Beyond: A Starter Kit

Engineering education classrooms are transforming into spaces focused on advancing critical and ethical skills in addition to technical skills (Ceylan & Lee, 2003; Gunnink & Bernhardt, 2002; Siller, 2001). Yet, as countless Black people continue to be murdered by White police officers and vigilante citizens, many engineering classrooms have not served as spaces for addressing present and past racist societal events. Civil and human rights must be directly linked to engineering ethics. People must matter more than engineered products or profits. Engineering educators must lean into the current moment to acknowledge that the systemic oppression of Black people in engineering is directly connected to the disparaging of Black life in society. To create more support and protection for Black people, the author proposes an anti-racist starter kit for use in undergraduate engineering classrooms. This article is a call to action that includes 20 recommended action items for the 2020 engineering education community.