Innovative Professional Development and Community Building Activity Program Improves STEM URM Graduate Student Experiences
Innovative Professional Development and Community Building Activity Program Improves STEM URM Graduate Student Experiences
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DOI：
10.1186/s40594-019-0188-x
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发表时间：
2019-12-01
影响因子：
6.7
通讯作者：
Spaulding, Angela
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Moreira, Rosana G.;Butler-Purry, Karen;Spaulding, Angela
背景：有必要扩大URM博士生在STEM领域的参与，增加他们的留存率，减少他们获得学位的平均时间，并为这些学生提供竞争教员职位所需的准备，这一点已经达成了强烈的共识。本文提供了一个模型，以实施有效的战略，以支持URM STEM研究生在不同类型机构的系统中取得成功。针对STEM(科学、技术、工程和数学)领域未被充分代表的少数族裔(URM)研究生的创新专业发展、参与激励和社区建设计划有助于他们为获得学术职位做好准备，成功地进入研究生院，并形成一个帮助他们在下一级别出类拔萃的支持网络。该项目为超过43个研究生项目中的84名博士和84名硕士学生提供了持续的支持，并在合作环境中开展了几项活动。数据是通过评估问卷收集的，其中包括开放式回答和在每次活动后发送给学生的对特定项目的回答，以及一项寻求他们对该计划的反馈的调查。结果在短短4年内，该项目帮助13名学生获得了教师或博士后职位，并改善了13名学生对教授职业生涯的看法，13名学生过渡到博士项目，现在对申请教师职位更感兴趣。该计划成功地在不同的联盟系统机构中发展和维持了大规模、分散但相互联系的STEM社区，并增加了参与(从2013年的58人增加到2017年的98人)，减少了障碍，并促进了URM博士生为教授生涯做准备的成功。结论我们开展的活动将各院校的学生和教职员工联系起来，提供了通往教授的多种途径，与学生不同的学术职业抱负保持一致。本文阐述了专业发展、激励和社区建设干预措施在实现URM STEM教育转型中的关键作用。
Background Strong consensus exists on the need to expand participation of URM doctoral students in STEM fields, to increase their retention, reduce their average time to degree, and provide these students with the preparation necessary to compete for faculty positions. This paper provides a model for implementing effective strategies to support the success of URM STEM graduate students across a system with various types of institutions. An innovative professional development, participation incentive, and community building program for underrepresented minority (URM) Graduate students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields was instrumental in preparing them to secure academic positions, navigating graduate school successfully, and form a support network that helped them excel at the next level. The program provided sustained support and several activities in a collaborative environment for 84 Ph.D. and 84 Master's students, in over 43 graduate programs. Data were collected using evaluation questionnaires containing open-ended responses and responses to specific items sent to the students after each activity, and a survey seeking their feedback on the program. Results In only 4 years, the program helped 13 students to secure faculty or post-doctoral positions, and improved the opinion of the professoriate career as thirteen students transitioned to the Ph.D. program and are now more interested in applying for faculty positions. The program was successful in developing and sustaining large-scale, distributed, yet interconnected STEM communities among the diverse Alliance system institutions and increased participation (from 58 in 2013 to 98 in 2017), reduced barriers, and promoted the success of URM doctoral students preparing for careers in the professoriate. Conclusions We have developed activities that connected students and faculty across institutions, providing multiple paths to the professoriate that align with students' diverse academic career aspirations. This article illustrates that professional development, incentives, and community building interventions are essential in generating URM STEM education transformation.