STEM Disciplines are More Diverse Than Undergraduate Courses Depict

Abstract College STEM curricula that depict scholars with marginalized identities could benefit students by disrupting pervasive and harmful stereotypes. Textbook analyses suggest that this potential has not yet been realized. However, textbook analyses do not present a complete picture of curricula, which also include slide presentations, assignments, lectures, and other materials. Given the methodological challenge of capturing depictions of marginalized scholars across complete curricula, a survey of college STEM instructors—asking them to holistically evaluate depictions of diversity throughout their curricula—could provide a valuable complement to past textbook analysis research. We surveyed STEM instructors at large US universities (final n = 712 at 57 institutions), asking them to estimate the percentages of individual scholars depicted in their undergraduate STEM courses who are scholars of color, women, or LGBTQ + . We compared responses with the demographics of recent Ph.D. recipients in corresponding STEM disciplines using data collected by the US government through its Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED), an annual census of Ph.D. recipients in the USA. Based on conservative interpretations of SED data and instructors’ estimates, we find undergraduate courses in biology, computer science, and engineering tend to under-depict scholars of color, while courses in agriculture, biology, and health sciences tend to under-depict women (compared to the percentages of scholars of color and women among recent doctoral recipients in these disciplines). Although the SED has to date gathered limited data about LGBTQ + identities, we find evidence that LGBTQ + scholars might be under-depicted as well, with the lowest rates of depiction in chemistry and engineering.