Priyanka PardasaniThe inaugural Joseph Bordogna Forum took place on Wednesday, February 24 and featured a talk from John Brooks Slaughter, Deans’ Professor of Education and Engineering at USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering and Rossier School of Education, entitled a “Call to Action for Racial Justice and Equity in Engineering.”
Dr. Slaughter was joined by panelists Jennifer R. Lukes, Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Oladayo Adewole, alumnus in Robotics and CJ Taylor, Raymond S. Markowitz President’s Distinguished Professor in Computer and Information Science and Associate Dean, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, who moderated the talk.
Dr. Slaughter talked about how microaggressions can often be a barrier to student success and emphasized on the importance of mentorship for underrepresented minorities: “If faculty members seek to improve the retention of underrepresented minorities, often times more has to be done than introducing science and math principles early on in their education, but instead, the unique backgrounds of these students must be understood.”