Olivia Flores received a greeting card the summer before she arrived at Syracuse University, in 2017, with a photo showing smiling women of color in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. It read “Women Lead.”

Flores remembers being relieved. She grew up on Chicago’s South Side, on 71st street. She was excited to study aerospace engineering with women who looked like her, hoping to someday work for NASA.

Walking into her “Introduction to Engineering and Computer Science” class last fall, though, Flores was one of only four women of color in her class. By mid-semester she was one of three, after a student left the college.

In recent interviews with The Daily Orange, some women engineering students of color said they often feel underrepresented and lack support in the college. During forums held after the release of the Theta Tau videos this spring, students spoke about what they consider a lack of diversity at the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Flores said she has experienced “hundreds” of microaggressions at the college, including being called “taco” by a male classmate. She decided to leave the school due to a lack of support there, Flores said.

Several students said they didn’t know much about the college’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, but they thought the college needed to hire more women in the college. They said they sometimes feel pressured to represent their race or ethnicity.

“Especially being Latino, it can be daunting,” said Lluvia Lopez Garces, a sophomore civil engineering major and treasurer for SU’s Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. “Sometimes I do feel like I have to be careful with what I say because I am representing everybody else, as well. But I also take on the challenge.”

Kyra Thomas, a sophomore computer science major, said she hasn’t had a black woman computer science professor in school. Hiring more black women as computer science professors would help ease tension and create more representation, Thomas said.

Arvin Lin is in Thomas’s class and major. Two weeks ago, she almost wasn’t — she emailed Susan Older, program director of electrical engineering and computer science, to tell Older she was thinking about leaving the computer science major.

Lin identifies herself as Asian-American. She finds comfort in being able to turn to Older, who ultimately encouraged Lin to continue her studies.

“It’s really refreshing to hear it from a woman in the field because, especially for (computer science), you don’t see a professor as a woman,” Lin said.

When Theta Tau, a professional engineering fraternity, was suspended and then permanently expelled from campus in April for videos that Chancellor Kent Syverud called “extremely racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist and hostile to people with disabilities,” College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean Teresa Dahlberg hosted public forums for the school.

In the last five months, Dahlberg said she has tried to address students’ concerns about diversity and inclusion and has started to implement an inclusive excellence council.

Karen Davis, who ran the College of Engineering and Computer Science’s Career Services for 14 years, will now oversee the new Office of Inclusive Excellence, which launched Oct. 1.

People who spoke at an April town hall said Davis is a crucial player in helping students succeed within the college. When asked about her appointment as assistant dean, many students said they were hopeful about the work Davis plans to do.  

“Karen makes you feel so welcomed, so having her appointed to that position is a tremendous step forward,” said Haleem Alakiu, a junior chemical engineering major. Despite being the only African-American in his chemical engineering graduating class, Alakiu said he never feels uncomfortable among his white peers.  

Davis is also leading a newly-created council of students, faculty and staff that will head a diversity audit within the college during the 2018-19 academic year.  At the April town hall, Dahlberg said diversity education would be included in ECS 101, the introductory engineering course. When asked about the curriculum update, Davis said students will receive diversity education through SEM 100, a university-wide course for incoming students.

During her first six months, Davis said she will focus on the diversity audit, reviewing the college’s programs and identifying diversity and inclusion issues within the college.

As director of the Office of Inclusive Excellence, her position establishes a direct line of communication for students, faculty and staff regarding issues they may have with diversity and inclusion, she said.

Davis said student recruitment for the council has already begun, and the college is developing a diversity-focused training program for faculty and students called Strategic Inclusive Excellence Leadership Dialogue. It will take about two years to train all students, faculty and staff, Davis said.

Prior to stepping down from career services, Davis hired four new career advisers who are either of color or women.

Growing up in the Bronx, Davis didn’t think she could be a women engineer, she said. She was good at math and a leader, but Davis said she didn’t realize her potential until she graduated from SU with a degree in communication and  rhetorical studies, instead of engineering.

“If I could do it all again, I would’ve become an engineer,” Davis said. All three of Davis’ children work in engineering fields. “They’re engineers for me.”

Simone Burns, a senior environmental engineering major and vice president of the National Society of Black Engineers, said she wants to see increased recruitment of women, particularly women of color, within the college.

“I’m usually the only black woman in my engineering classes,” Burns said.

There used to be a Women Overnight event within the College of Engineering and Computer Science, in which Burns said accepted women engineering students could meet faculty and women’s groups on campus, creating a sense of community before the start of classes.

That program was cut Burns’ sophomore year. Davis called it a “great program” that was “effective and impactful” but said she didn’t know why it was cut. She added that observations like that will be made in the diversity audit.

But Flores said she never felt comfortable in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. She went to therapy sessions during her second semester because of her experiences in the engineering school, Flores said. She switched her major to political science and African-American Studies.

When asked if she would ever return to the aerospace engineering program, Flores said she would only come back if she had Ben 10’s watch, which can transform humans into different physical forms.

“I could slap the watch and turn into a generic white male,” she said. “I would be doing it all, aerospace, mechanical. I’d be doing it all.”

Cover photo by Laura Oliverio | Contributing Photographer