ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As they considered midcourse corrections for their organization’s 10-year strategic plan, the leaders of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) were acutely aware of disruption. The coronavirus pandemic that was taking a disproportionate health and economic toll on Black communities across the United States in early 2020 had also upended their academic and professional lives, and social unrest among their peers over racially motivated killings of African Americans was pervasive.
Eight months of work by these leaders during that tumultuous time resulted in “Game Change 2025,” the 2020–2025 Strategic Plan for the National Society of Black Engineers. The document is rooted in a desire for greater social justice and aims for transformation of NSBE, STEM and broader society.
“The turmoil of the past year became motivation for NSBE to reach higher and think more creatively to develop new goals and objectives and to find new ways of achieving them,” said Jocelyn Jackson, 2019–2021 national chair of NSBE and a second-year doctoral student in engineering education research at the University of Michigan. “Game Change 2025 builds on the social justice consciousness and activism that have been at the center of our Society since it was founded nearly 46 years ago. Our new strategic plan reshapes our mission for success in the coming era of transformation.”
Game Change 2025 notes the significant progress NSBE had made, during the previous five years, toward its main strategic goal: to partner with higher education institutions to graduate 10,000 new Black Engineers annually in the United States, by 2025. More than 5,600 Black students had received engineering baccalaureates in 2019, up 61% from only 3,501 five years earlier. NSBE’s new five-year plan seeks to sustain and increase that success by presenting strategic direction, challenges to be met and measurable headline indicators. Game Change 2025 places those elements on a “strategic articulation map” of pathways that align with the main areas of NSBE’s STEM ecosystem: “Ready!” for the Society’s engagement with K–12 students; “Set!!” for its collegiate programs and activities; and “Go!!!” for NSBE’s support ofSTEM professionals. Game Change 2025 also outlines effective steps to enhance NSBE’s brand and grow the organization sustainably through strategic investment.
“Having served as a NSBE chapter officer and as NSBE national chair during my years as a student at MIT, in the 1980s, I know the power of our organization to grow effective leaders,” said Karl W. Reid, Ed.D., who has served as executive director of the Society since 2014. “Still, I was amazed at the proficiency of our student-leaders and others in the development of Game Change 2025. This is an ambitious but solid plan that highlights NSBE’s critical work and shows the impact of greater investment in our organization during the next five years and beyond.”
Game Change 2025, the 2020–2025 Strategic Plan for the National Society of Black Engineers, is available for download at https://gamechange2025.nsbe.org/
ABOUT NSBE
With more than 700 chapters and more than 21,000 active members in the U.S. and abroad, the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is one of the largest student-governed organizations based in the United States. NSBE, founded in 1975, supports and promotes the aspirations of collegiate and pre-collegiate students and technical professionals in engineering and technology. NSBE’s mission is “to increase the number of culturally responsible Black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.” For more information, visit www.nsbe.org.
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