The TEAM UP Report, released by AIP in 2020, challenged physics departments to double the number of Black physics majors by 2030. We present how the Rutgers-Newark (RU-N) Physics Department is heeding this call to action by leveraging programs already successful at RU-N and implementing new strategies that align with findings from the TEAM-UP report. RU-N is a Hispanic Serving Institution in the heart of Newark, a predominantly Black city. The RU-N physics department has undergone significant changes in the last 5 years with active learning introductory courses; a Learning Assistant program; redesigned undergraduate and graduate programs; and new faculty. The goal of this initiative is to build pathways from high school and community college through the physics major to career or graduate school for Black students. Project pieces include: i) physics department training to support cultural change; ii) building relationships with local predominantly Black high schools and community colleges; iii) frequent holistic advising; and iv) industry partnerships. We present quantitative indicators and qualitative feedback from students and stakeholders. This is a work in progress; we hope to spark conversation.

Culture in departments is rooted in history; by analyzing the historical culture of physics departments, we may come to a new understanding of attitudes, unspoken assumptions, and ideas that permeate contemporary culture. Here, we examine the evolution of the idea that physics education should serve as a filter, a practice commonly called gatekeeping. Physics graduate education saw great reform throughout the early and mid-20^th century, with many calls to organize and standardize the disordered, haphazard system that was present. Concerns were voiced about the education process and the quality of the students who were granted degrees. These calls to reform resulted in a variety of changes that were designed around the needs of the student body at the time. In the present, our field is more diverse than ever before, and our current standards and expectations fail to support these learners. However, this failure is often seen as the student's failure rather than the system design's failure. This project analyzes gatekeeping through 20^th-century calls for reform, argues that modern policies that disadvantage minoritized students are kept around due to a perceived need to gatekeep the subject, and advocates for more consideration of a department-deficit model to explain inequities.

The Learning Assistant (LA) Model leverages undergraduate students (LAs) as facilitators of learning in active engagement classes. Often, LA roles go beyond the classroom as LAs are involved in instructional changes across the institution and in the broader learning community. We suggest a framework for identifying LA leadership and provide examples of leadership across multiple colleges at Chicago State University and across the Illinois Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (I-LSAMP), with a specific focus on LA roles in the assessment and evaluation of teaching and learning as well as their role in supporting effective teaching frameworks.  

Funded by the Department of Education (CSER, RECESS), the National Science Foundation DUE#1911341, and the CSU Center for Teaching and Research Excellence.

Colombian society faces a historical political challenge to implement the 2026 peace accord, which ended 60 years of armed conflict. Public institutions were called to contribute to social restoration by making efforts to create education opportunities for historically marginalized communities, often isolated due to armed conflict and state abandonment. Virtual classes emerged as a way to expand educational access for these communities. Institutions with virtual capabilities are creating physics classrooms as diverse spaces not only for physics learning but to promote the restoration of the social tissue for vulnerable populations, including victims and perpetrators. We did a descriptive study in a Colombian’ online introductory physics class implementing culturally relevant elements of PEER physics curricula combined with PhET Simulations. By analyzing students' reflections and feelings about the course, we provide preliminary results that shed light on how physics can serve as a context for social restoration.