CARE stands for Cultivating Action, Resilience, and Empowerment for Academic Caregivers. The implementation of these initiatives will occur in the Fall of 2025. Following this, the CARE community of practice will be established to determine the next steps and identify ways to impact policy and drive change with stakeholders in engineering, STEM, and across campus. We hope this initiative can serve as an example of what the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Mathematics can recognize as a national model for using innovative practices to promote change and for developing leadership skills in other NC State communities.

[VIRTUAL] CARE I: A Call to Action

Friday, February 22, 2025 1-4 PM ET

Join us on Friday, February 21, 2025, for leaders and emerging leaders in STEM, in partnership with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN).

Let’s start the conversation.

Family caregiving is a critical issue affecting many in the academic community. With 40% of U.S. families living with children and nearly 20% serving as adult caregivers, caregiving encompasses a wide range of responsibilities. As shown in the graphic titled “Typology of Care” (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2024, p. 25), includes caring for children, aging parents, spouses, dependent adult children with serious medical conditions, extended family, and those facing end-of-life or bereavement care. Despite its widespread impact, caregiving is often under-supported and stigmatized, especially in engineering and science academia.

In collaboration with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine and the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN), this forum is designed for leaders in science and engineering to take decisive steps toward reforming support for caregiving faculty. Building on the National Academies’ 2024 report, Supporting Family Caregivers in STEMM: A Call to Action, we will explore innovative approaches to create more inclusive academic environments. We define leaders in caregiving as individuals ranging from university leadership and college leadership to faculty members leading research labs, teaching undergraduates with caregiving needs, and serving as department chairs.

This event is open to ALL genders from NC State University and other institutions.

Participants will gain insights into how diverse caregiving responsibilities impact faculty, hear key findings from the report, and learn about support resources available at NC State. Experts will present concrete examples and considerations for fostering supportive environments and driving cultural change within engineering and science fields. Their insights will provide actionable strategies tailored to these disciplines’ unique challenges, helping to build a more inclusive and supportive academic culture for caregivers. This event will also establish a virtual community forum, allowing ongoing dialogue and support before and after the event.

This is a call to action for NC State’s leaders in engineering and science to unite, collaborate, and lead the charge in transforming the future of caregiving support across the university.

Outcomes

• Evaluate the challenges academic caregivers face in STEM fields and the importance of supporting them.
• Identify professional barriers, policy, economic implications, disparities, and benefits of supporting specific communities with consideration of typology.
• Brainstorm ideas and co-develop innovative approaches to support STEM caregivers.

Agenda

• Welcome: Joel Ducoste, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Success, College of Engineering
• Faculty Testimonial on Caregiving’s Impact on Work: Kimberly Cook-Chennault, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Excellence, School of Engineering, Rutgers University; Idalis Villanueva Alarcón, Ph.D., Associate Chair & Tenured Associate Professor, Department of Engineering Education, University of Florida
• Strategic Leadership for Providing Caregiving Support for STEM Academics: Katherine Wullert, Ph.D., Program Officer, National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics; Ursula Hairston, MPA, Assistant Vice Chancellor for HR Strategy, North Carolina State University
• NC State Leadership Panel on Academic Caregiving: Heather Metcalf, Ph.D., Managing Director of Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN); Jai Jackson, Ph.D., Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Engagement, Office for Faculty Excellence, Provost Office; Peter Harries, Dean of Graduate School; Jamila Simpson, Ph.D., Associate Dean for College Success and Well-Being, College of Sciences
• Discuss and Act: Guided Small Group Discussions with Thought Leaders: Meredith McDevitt, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Associate, Office of Development and Success, College of Engineering
• What Now?: Megan Morin, Ph.D., Associate Director, Office of Development and Success, College of Engineering

[HYBRID] CARE II: Visionary Initatives

Friday, March 28, 2025, 1-4 PM ET

Plant Sciences Building, NC State University or via Zoom

Have you ever wanted to know the formula for promoting academic change? This session is Part II of the CARE Coalition for Visionary Initiatives, where you’ll come together to create a shared vision for your own micro-initiative. While we’ll focus on supporting caregivers in STEM fields, the tools and strategies you’ll learn are applicable to promoting any kind of academic change. You’ll become an academic change-maker, ready to drive real, impactful change in academic environments.

Throughout the session, you will hear from speakers who have actively promoted academic change, offering insights from their experiences and strategies for success.

Using the Making Changes in STEM Education: The Change Maker’s Toolkit and the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Supporting Family Caregivers in STEMM: A Call to Action (2024) report, you will explore practical strategies and gain valuable insights into creating academic change that supports caregivers. Prepare to turn your leadership vision into impactful action, driving meaningful change at every step.

This is open to all levels of academic change, genders, and identities in academia. Attending the first session is not required.

In this workshop you, you will:

1. Define your role as a change maker: Guided by Megan Morin, Ph.D., Guided by Megan Morin, Ph.D., you will reflect on how your leadership can foster change and support caregivers in STEMM fields.
2. Apply the Change Maker’s Toolkit: Using the Making Changes in STEM Education: The Change Maker’s Toolkit and the National Academies of Science report, you will develop strategies to create academic change and support caregivers in STEMM.
3. Assess and plan for impact: You will evaluate your readiness for change, conduct an environmental scan, and create an actionable plan for a micro-initiative to be implemented in Fall 2025, fostering sustainable support for caregivers.

Key Takeaways

• Understanding your role as an academic change-maker.
• Developing actionable plans to support caregivers in academic environments.
• Gaining insights on how to assess opportunities and plan for academic change.

For questions, please contact OFDS at engineeringfds@ncsu.edu.

Other Recorded Caregiving Events

WEPAN and NASEM Present: “Supporting Caregivers in STEM” Webinar

To hear more about the report, WEPAN is partnering with The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to discuss their report “Supporting Family Caregivers in STEMM” on Wednesday, October 16, at 1pm.

The report describes the ways in which the labor and contributions of caregivers are often invisible and undervalued, with a specific focus on the academic STEMM ecosystem, and reviews policies and practices that support caregivers, locally and nationally, and describes best practices in policy implementation and design.

The webinar will feature members of the report team along with STEMM professionals sharing their experiences as institutional leaders and caregivers.
▪️ Katie Wullert, PhD, Program Officer, NASEM
▪️ Levon T. Esters, Ph.D., Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Fox Graduate School, Penn State University
▪️ Yadilette Rivera-Colón, Chair, Undergraduate Science Program; Director, Center of Excellence for Women in STEM; Associate Professor, Biology, Bay Path University
▪️ Lisette Torres-Gerald, Senior Researcher, TERC
▪️ Stephani Page, PhD, Managing Director of Programs, Strategic Initiatives, and Community Engagement, WEPAN

See the webinar recording here: www.wepan.org/events/nasem-caregiving.

NASEM Supporting Family Caregivers in STEMM: Graduate Student and Post-Doc Caregivers Webinar

The event took place on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, from 12:30 to 2:00 PM. A recording will be available soon.

Caregiving is a universal experience–whether providing care for children or aging relatives or receiving care when ailing, everyone at some point will be touched by caregiving. And yet, caregiving remains stigmatized and under-supported in academia, with particular challenges for graduate students and post-docs who face greater hurdles to accessing and advocating for their needs. Building on the recent release of a National Academies report on Supporting Family Caregivers in STEMM, join us on October 29th for a webinar unpacking the caregiving experiences of post-doctoral scholars and graduate students and examining what institutions can do to better support these populations.