National Society of Black Engineers

Game Change 2025

Game Change 2025, the 2020–2025 Strategic Plan of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), reshapes the work of the Society’s mission to enable greater success in the coming era of social and economic transformation.

Introduction letter

Letter from National Chair and Executive Director

Driving STEM Excellence and Social Justice

The National Society of Black Engineers 'Game Change 2025'

By Jocelyn Jackson and Karl W. Reid, Ed.D.

The multiple crises of 2020 — a viral pandemic, racist killings and unnatural “natural disasters” — exposed longstanding social inequities in the United States. But in one respect, for those of us serving on the Strategic Planning Task Force of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), they were an equalizer: no one on the team, from the college students comprising NSBE’s national leadership to the most seasoned staff and technical professionals who contributed their expertise, had ever seen such times before.

Like all crises, however, these presented opportunities. NSBE’s task force realized that now was the time to reach even higher and think even more creatively to build on NSBE’s 45-year legacy, to continue the progress we had made toward our “10K Goal” of leading the nation to produce 10,000 new Black Engineers each year, and to expand the social justice consciousness and activism that had been at the center of our Society since it was founded by African-American engineering students at Purdue University more than four and a half decades ago.

A full year of labor during a tumultuous time gave birth to Game Change 2025: the 2020–2025 Strategic Plan of the National Society of Black Engineers, a document that reshapes the work of NSBE’s NSBE’s mission to enable greater success in the coming era of social and economic transformation.

Quietly, during the turmoil of 2020, more than 5,600 Black students received engineering bachelor’s degrees in the U.S., up from only 3,501

five years earlier, an achievement that moved NSBE past the halfway mark of its journey to “10K.”

Game Change 2025 aims to sustain and accelerate that success by presenting strategic direction, critical initiatives, challenges to be met and measurable headline indicators, and by placing those elements on a “strategic articulation map” of pathways that align with the main areas of NSBE’s STEM ecosystem: “Ready!” for our engagement with K–12 students; “Set!!” for our collegiate programs and activities; and “Go!!!” for our support of STEM professionals. Game Change 2025 also outlines effective steps to enhance NSBE’s brand and grow the organization sustainably through strategic investment.

Our plan is unashamedly ambitious, as it must be, for the sake of the Black communities we hail from and serve. If nothing else, the pandemic has taught us that our future is increasingly dependent on knowledge of, and proficiency in, the STEM fields, including engineering. But our plan is also rock solid, based on the best thinking of trained problems solvers — aspiring and accomplished engineers.

Game Change 2025 is clearly a plan for the times, one that will drive more Black excellence in engineering, more investment in NSBE and greater social justice during the next five years and beyond.

OUR MISSION

Executive Summary & Strategic Plan

Game Change 2025, the 2020–2025 Strategic Plan of the National Society of Black Engineers, is the result of a year of focused effort that built on NSBE’s stellar, 45-year legacy of producing diverse technical talent to make a positive impact on Black communities and on broader society. The document presents strategic direction, critical initiatives, challenges to be met and measurable headline indicators, and places them on a “strategic articulation map” of pathways that align with the main areas of NSBE’s STEM ecosystem. Game Change 2025 also outlines effective steps to enhance NSBE’s brand and grow the organization sustainably through strategic investment.

NEWS RELEASE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2015 Black Engineers Annual Graduates
3,501 Students
2019 Black Engineers Annual Graduates
5,654 STUDENTS
2025 Black Engineers Annual Graduates
10,000 STUDENTS

MEET THE TASK FORCE

Strategic Planning Taskforce

Jocelyn Jackson,
National Chair 2019-21

Karl Reid, Ed.D.,
Executive Director 2014-21

Kendra Allen, National Finance Chair 2019–21
Rukayah Balogun, National Vice Chair 2019–20
Eric Bryant, National Professionals Membership Chair 2020–21
Kevin Edwards, BCA Steering Committee Representative 2020-21
Obum Egolum, Region II Chair 2018–20
Nosa Eke, National Secretary 2020–21
Njema Frazier, Ph.D., National Advisory Board 2014-21
Julius Hudson, National Professionals Chair 2019–20
Ahmed Ismail, Iowa State Chapter Chair Emeritus 2020–21
Sairyia Jemison, Region IV Chair 2020–21
Courtney Johnson, National Programs Chair 2018–20

Racheida Lewis, Ph.D., National Parliamentarian 2020–21
Kameelah Majied, National Professionals Chair 2020–21
Austin Mamou, National Treasurer 2020–21
Russell Marzette, PEB Special Projects, SIG Operations & Development 2020-21
Janaye Matthews, Region VI Chair 2019–20
Tamia Middleton, National Programs Chair 2020–21
Monica Monconduit, National Vice Chair 2020–21
S. Gordon Moore Jr., National Advisory Board 2005-21
Ira Moore, National Academic Excellence Chair 2020–21
Mar’quis Bryant Morgan, Region 6 Chair 2020–21
Favour Nerrise, Region II Chair 2020–21
Cionna Orr, National Secretary 2019–20
Anderson Prewitt, Ph.D., National Technical Professionals Chair 2020–21
Alisa White, National Academic Excellence Chair 2019–20
Danielle White, USC Chapter Member 2020-21
Niasia Williams, National Chair Emeritus 2019–20
Virginia Womack, National Advisory Board 2000-21
Roneisha Worthy, National Professionals Chair Elect 2020–21
Astra Zeno, PCI Advisor 2020-21