Online Engagement and Outreach Activities in an ASEE Student Chapter During Turbulent Times

Following the shelter-in-place guidelines enacted across California in the early spring of 2020, many institutions transitioned nearly all student programming to online offerings. On the heels of the burgeoning public health challenge followed a long overdue reckoning with systemic and racial inequity catalyzed by George Floyd’s murder. In response, our ASEE Student Chapter made major pivots in its mission to address both (A) the pressures and stressors students and educators faced coupled with their desire for engagement and (B) the integration of anti-racist pedagogy into their engineering education practices. In this paper, we will discuss the major components of these pivots, including (i) transitioning existing programming to the virtual environment, (ii) reassessing chapter direction and goals by expert elicitation to evaluate chapter niche, (iii) developing new strategies to increase participation and engagement, including the formation of an anti-racism multimedia learning club aimed at promoting awareness of systemic inequity and discussing strategies to combat anti-black racism in higher education, and (iv) continuously adjusting chapter goals and activities through iterative reflection. We will place this discussion in the context of literature on mental health, well-being, and flourishing of students and educators during this unprecedented time.