Dr. Luke Wood, associate professor at the College of Education’s Department of Administration, Rehabilitation and Postsecondary Education spoke at the Inclusive STEM Education for Youth of Color. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Sponsored by the White House Council on Women and Girls, the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the conference brought educators, leaders and stakeholders in STEM to discuss barriers and how to improve access for youth of color.
“It was an honor to be invited to share the work that Frank Harris III, Marissa Vasquez-Urias, and I are doing with our team on college men of color,” said Luke, whose panel discussion focused on factors that influence the attainment of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students in education. “I focused specifically on the community college sector, discussing issues that face men of color, particularly black, Latino and Southeast Asian men.”
This is not Wood’s first trip to the White House. As director of the doctoral program in community college leadership at SDSU and co-director of the Minority Male Community College Collaborative, a national research and practice center that works with community colleges to increase the number of men of color who pursue higher education, Wood is often invited to speak at conferences.
“It was our second trip to the White House this year,” said Wood, whose research focuses on factors affecting the success of men of color in community colleges. “Earlier in the year, we were asked to attend a small meeting of thought leaders around black and Latino male issues that focused on the President's My Brother's Keeper initiative.”
Wood has authored more than 100 publications, including 14 books and 60 peer-reviewed journal articles focused on equity in education.
“Luke and Frank [Harris III] have changed the national conversation regarding issues of equity in higher education,” Joseph F. Johnson, Jr., dean of the College of Education. “SDSU is fortunate to benefit from their influential scholarship.”