Welcome to the November edition of the STEM LEAF/ADVANCE Newsletter!
Clarkson’s NSF ADVANCE grant is designed
1) to effect positive institutional change around reduction of implicit or unintentional bias associated with gender and intersectional issues of race, ethnicity, country of origin, sexual orientation, and disability,
2) to systematically and equitably support the development of inclusive leadership skills and the professional advancement of women STEM faculty, and
3) to implement sustainable, systematic changes across the University in support of these goals.
Resources/News
Academic Motherhood: A Mixed-method Review of the ‘Child Penalty’ for Women of Color in STEM report by Dr. Erin Winterrowd
“One factor deterring junior scientists from pursuing careers in academia is the perception that women in STEM must compromise between family and career goals. But is this still the case? The attention to work-family navigation in the academy has only heightened since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as gender and racial inequities have been laid bare. The current project aims to take advantage of this attention to working mothers and gendered racism in higher education by summarizing the recent literature on the impact of academic motherhood, particularly for women of color, on success as a scientist.”
Dr. Winterrowd will be presenting her work above in a webinar on December 13th at 3pm EST, please register here if you’re interested.
The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM Online Guide by the National Academy of Sciences
“Mentorship is essential in developing science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) professionals. It is a set of skills that can and should be learned, practiced, and improved upon with self-reflection and feedback. If you are a mentor or mentee yourself, or if you are a leader in your organization responsible for ensuring that your faculty and their mentees have the skills to engage in the most effective mentoring relationships, this website is for you.”
Harsh workplace climate is pushing women out of academia by Yvaine Ye in CU Boulder Today
“Women faculty are more likely to leave academia than men faculty throughout all career stages in U.S. universities, CU Boulder researchers revealed in the most comprehensive analysis of retention in academia to date. The team published the findings Oct. 20 in the journal Science Advances. The researchers found that a harsh workplace climate, which can include harassment and feelings of not belonging, was the most common reason women left academia. This attrition affects not only early-career professionals but also those who have achieved the highest ranks in universities, the study found.”
Sexism in academia is bad for science and a waste of public funding by N. Boivin, S. Tauber, U. Beisiegel, U. Keller, & J. Hering in Nature
“Higher education and research institutions are critical to the well-being and success of societies, meaning their financial support is strongly in the public interest. At the same time, value-for-money principles demand that such investment delivers. Unfortunately, these principles are currently violated by one of the biggest sources of public funding inefficiency: sexism.”
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at advance@clarkson.edu. If you’d like to keep up with information like this regularly, you can follow our Twitter account @ClarksonADVANCE. (Our PI team consists of Marc Christensen, Jen Ball, Laura Ettinger, William Jemison, & Stephanie Schuckers. Our Project Director is Sarah Treptow.)