Minority Faculty Minority Faculty DevelopmentDevelopmentGilda Barabino, PhDGeorgia Institute of TechnologyNSF MRSEC Directors’ Meeting

November 2, 2009

Barabino Led Barabino Led InitiativesInitiativesNSF ADVANCE Cross-Disciplinary Initiative for Minority Women Faculty

Minority Faculty Development Forum◦support the career advancement and retention of underrepresented minority faculty - primary mechanism: NSF Minority Faculty Development Workshop

GUIDING PRINCIPLESGUIDING PRINCIPLES

Reconceptualizing the Reconceptualizing the IssuesIssuesViewing diversity among the professoriate—not in isolation—but as part of a complex system◦Student diversity◦Enhancing educational experience for ALL

◦Enriching S&E enterpriseGlobal issuePolicy and programs to enhance diversity must be institutionalized

Minority Faculty Minority Faculty Development and Career Development and Career Progression: Progression: DeterminantsDeterminantsMentoringNetworkingOpportunities for collaborationPersonal and professional interactions with peers and tenured faculty within department and broader community

Identity formation as a scientist/engineer reinforced by inclusion, socialization and valuation of contributions

Pathway to the Academy: Pathway to the Academy: Possible DeterrentsPossible DeterrentsLack of role modelsLack of encouragement and proactive recruitment

Quality of graduate experience

Perceived unattractiveness of faculty career

Women of Color in the Women of Color in the AcademyAcademyLeast likely to have professional mentors

Least likely to be tenured and promoted

Least likely to be at the rank of full professor

Least likely to be included in collaborative research projects

Most likely to carry the heaviest service burden

““The Double Bind: The Price of The Double Bind: The Price of Being a Minority Woman in Being a Minority Woman in Science”Science” AAAS Report No. 76-R-3, 1976AAAS Report No. 76-R-3, 1976 “Minority women represent a disturbingly

small part of the total scientific manpower pool, but are a significant component whose needs seem not to have been addressed by existing programs for minorities or women. They have traditionally been excluded because of biases related to both their race or ethnicity and gender, constituting a double bind. Programs for minorities and women have generally been assumed to include minority women, but in fact minority women fall in the cracks between the two. The programs developed for minorities in science have mostly been dominated by male scientists. Similarly, the women’s science organizations are overwhelmingly white, and the minority science organizations, overwhelmingly male.”

ADVANCE X-D Initiative ADVANCE X-D Initiative for Minority Women for Minority Women FacultyFacultyCross-disciplinaryResearch-drivenDiversity conceptualized in terms of race, ethnicity and gender

Socialization into an academic career/faculty development/navigating career path/succeeding and thriving

Enhanced career success

X-D InitiativeX-D InitiativeCohort ◦20 tenure-track faculty◦Across engineering disciplines and types of institutions

Conferences◦Inaugural, April 2008 at Georgia Tech

◦Follow up, September 2009 at Grace Hopper Conference for Women in Computing in collaboration with Anita Borg Institute

X-D InitiativeX-D InitiativePrimary Activities◦Professional development and socialization

◦Career planning and coaching◦Strategic networking◦Research component (built-in)

Qualitative and quantitative studies to elucidate fundamental issues and determine effectiveness of existing interventions

MINORITY FACULTY MINORITY FACULTY DEVELOPMENT FORUMDEVELOPMENT FORUM

Ongoing mechanism to support the career advancement and retention of underrepresented minority (URM) (African American, Hispanic, Native American) faculty – NSF Minority Faculty Development Workshop is primary activity

Minority Faculty Minority Faculty Development WorkshopDevelopment WorkshopPremise:Broadening participation of underrepresented minorities in S&E is a national imperative (diverse workforce and replacement of aging faculty)

Lack of URM faculty in engineering negatively impacts recruitment and retention of URM students

Minority faculty development programs positively impact URM faculty career success (Moody, 2004)

Current policies and practices related to tenure and promotion are not always conducive to faculty diversity (Trower, 2002) - efforts aimed at enhancing tenure rates for URM faculty such as the MFDF and MFD Workshop can mitigate

Minority Faculty Minority Faculty Development WorkshopDevelopment WorkshopTheme/Location/:

◦ 21st Century Engineering Faculty/NSF (2006), ◦ Building Tomorrow’s Engineering Faculty Today/GaTech (2009)

◦ Engineering Minority Faculty/MIT (2010)Format:

◦ 2 1/2 day informational, interactive and workshop sessions including opportunities for networking and mentoring

Unique Features: ◦ Primary focus on tenure-track faculty◦ Web-based pre- and post-conference activities and web-based searchable database of participants and others

◦ Tailored and interactive programming

Workshop ContentWorkshop ContentInformational sessions

◦ Plenary speakers, understanding NSF/NIH/other agencies

Workshop sessions◦ Grantsmanship, writing/publishing, teaching, tenure nuts and bolts, sowing the seeds of a successful research program

Interactive sessions◦ Worklife balance, professional skills development, shared research interests (poster session)

Career coachingNetworking opportunities and social activities

Membership in MFDF Membership in MFDF (workshop participants automatic (workshop participants automatic members)members)

Searchable database

Connections: X-D Connections: X-D Initiative/MFDW – Other Initiative/MFDW – Other NSF ProgramsNSF ProgramsProfessional development and socialization

Career planning and coachingStrategic networkingSeamless pipelineResearch and evaluation

The Engineering Alliance The Engineering Alliance for Mentoringfor Mentoring

Future StrategiesFuture StrategiesLongitudinal data collectionGreater agency and institutional accountability (leadership to promote accountability)

Sustained culture of support and collaboration (more inclusive research settings)

Minority faculty development program as a follow on to AGEP (networking, building community, socialization, successful navigation)

ADVANCE type program for URM

DiscussionDiscussion