The CARE Coalition launched in November 2024 with our first convening, CARE I: A Call to Action. That initial event—offered both virtually and in person started an important conversations about the realities of balancing personal responsibilities and academic life and began to build a shared commitment to creating more sustainable professional environments. Since then, we have hosted three additional events, including a national session at the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Conference, expanding the conversation to a broader academic audience.

We are now entering our second iteration with the Annual CARE Convening: Barriers and Breakthroughs (November 2025). This convening follows the framework of Kotter’s Change Model, beginning with a sense of urgency around examining how the “ideal worker” culture influences success and belonging in academia.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s (NASEM) 2024 report, Supporting Family Caregivers in STEMM: A Call to Action, serves as the foundational evidence for this work. The report identifies caregiving as a critical, yet often invisible, aspect of the academic workforce and calls for systemic, data-informed approaches to address the challenges faculty and staff face when balancing life and work. Guided by these recommendations, the CARE Coalition aligns with the mission of the Engineering Office of Faculty Development and Success (OFDS) to strengthen professional growth across the academic community, including faculty and staff whose contributions shape research, teaching, and institutional success.

Through the CARE Coalition’s initiatives, including storytelling, research translation, and micro-initiative development, together our community can transform evidence and lived experiences into actionable strategies that make caregiving visible and supported as an integral part of academic life and professional achievement.

Vision

Creating an academic culture where caregiving is visible, valued, and supported.

Mission

The CARE Coalition brings together faculty and staff in engineering and STEM to identify caregiving barriers revealed by research, data, and lived experiences. We design professional development solutions that drive practical, lasting academic change.

Why This Matters

Caregiving touches the majority of the academic workforce. With 40% of U.S. families raising children and nearly 20% supporting adults or elders (NASEM, 2024), most faculty and staff navigate responsibilities beyond work, from childcare to health and end-of-life care. Yet these realities remain largely invisible within academic systems that still value the “ideal worker,” someone with few personal constraints and constant availability. Recognizing and supporting caregiving isn’t a matter of accommodation; it’s essential to building a sustainable model of faculty success in engineering, STEM, and higher education.

The CARE Coalition addresses this gap by:

• Making stories visible through autoethnographic approaches.
• Building evidence through workforce data and national research.
• Driving action through grassroots micro-initiatives and professional development opportunities.

Upcoming

2025 CARE Coalition Convening: Barriers & Breakthroughs

Friday, November 7, 2025 · 9:00-11:30 AM
Talley Student Union, Room 3222

A 2½-hour, in-person convening that brings together academics to reflect on caregiving experiences, interpret workforce demographics, analyze national research, and generate practices that can reduce barriers.

Purpose

To explore how caregiving and personal responsibilities intersect with academic life in engineering and STEM. Participants will use their own experiences, workforce data, and research from the National Academies’ Supporting Family Caregivers in STEMM report to identify barriers and develop professional development solutions that strengthen academic culture and sustainability.

Outcomes

By the end of the convening, attendees will be able to:

• Interpret data and research to understand how caregiving shapes academic experiences.
• Analyze personal and institutional challenges to identify barriers and effective practices.
• Apply the CARES Framework to create actionable strategies (workshops, resources, speakers, or communities) that can be piloted or expanded through the CARE Action Fellows program.

CARE Action Fellows

Design and launch a professional development solution that improves the academic experience of caregivers.

The CARE Action Fellowship supports NC State faculty and staff in addressing caregiving barriers within the College of Engineering. Fellows use the CARES Conceptual Framework for Academic Change to identify a barrier, design a solution, and implement it with coaching and community support.
Only three projects will receive a $500 award (multiple Fellows may collaborate on one project).

📅 Applications due: December 19
🔔 Fellows notified: January 2
➡️ Learn more and apply