Geo Opportunities for Leadership in Diversity (GOLD): Sparks for Change

Part ISparks for Change是通过改善部门文化和支持代表性不足的少数民族（URM）教师，利用小团体作为变革推动者来增加地球科学的多样性。在地球科学教师的多样性仍然远远低于人口作为一个整体，这对吸引和留住一个多元化的学生群体的影响。在这项工作中，我们的重点是提高保留代表性不足的教师使用小组组成的初级URM教师有兴趣扩大参与（BP）的努力（？火花？），同一部门的高级合伙人（？合作伙伴？）和经验丰富的扩大参与专家（？赞助商？）来推动变革我们承认，缺乏对扩大参与努力的关注的一个根本原因可能是制度环境，在那里几乎没有部门的动机，以承认或奖励BP在终身教职和晋升方面的努力，导致一种文化，不认为BP的努力是重要的，并在URM教师不感到支持的环境。处理这个问题的一个有效方法是，成立一些受过适当领导训练的小组，让他们有能力和得到支持，制订部门计划，改变本部门的文化;以及应用扎根理论来收集支持持续变革的数据。第二部分变革公园以为期三天的研讨会为中心，并提供后续支持，这将建立一个学者网络，重点是扩大对地球科学的参与，为教师提供领导部门文化变革所需的领导技能，并支持他们制定实施变革的个性化计划。讲习班将汇集来自不同机构类型的10个小组，包括一个火花、合作伙伴和赞助者，进行领导能力培训，分享扩大参与战略和实际目标设定。持续的支持，包括评估工作、开发资源和建立联盟，将继续增强这些团体的能力，使其在返回机构后能够实行变革。《变革火花》将小团体理论作为变革的框架，这是一种新颖的方法，它将使我们了解这种方法的有效性，并深入了解有效的领导实践和一套改变部门文化的具体方法，以表彰和奖励BP的努力。该计划的目标是建立一个BP领导者网络，一系列经过测试的战略，以改善部门对BP工作的支持，以及越来越多的地球科学部门，这些部门更有能力吸引和留住URM的教师和学生，最终导致更多样化的地球科学劳动力。

Part ISparks for Change is an effort to increase the diversity of the geosciences by improving departmental culture and support of underrepresented minority (URM) faculty, using small groups as change agents. The diversity of faculty in the geosciences remains far below the population as a whole, and this has an effect on attracting and retaining a diverse student body. In this work we focus on improving the retention of underrepresented faculty by using small groups comprised of junior URM faculty interested in broadening participation (BP) efforts (?sparks?), more senior partners in the same departments (?partners?) and experienced broadening participation experts (?sponsors?) to drive change. We acknowledge that an underlying reason for a lack of focus on broadening participation efforts might be the institutional environment, where there is little departmental motivation to recognize or reward BP efforts in tenure and promotion, leading to a culture that does not view BP efforts as important, and an environment where URM faculty do not feel supported. An effective way to tackle this problem is with small groups with appropriate leadership training who are empowered and supported in developing departmental plans for changing the culture of their own department; and application of grounded theory to gather data that supports ongoing change.Part IISparks for Change is centered on a three-day workshop, with follow-up support, that will build a network of scholars focused on broadening participation in the geosciences, provide faculty with the leadership skills necessary to lead a departmental culture change and support for them in developing individualized plans for enacting change. The workshop will bring together ten small groups, comprised of a spark, partner and sponsor, from a range of different institution types, for training in leadership, sharing of broadening participation strategies and practical goal setting. Ongoing support, including evaluation of efforts, development of resources and alliance building will continue to empower the groups to enact change upon return to their institution. Sparks for Change is novel in its incorporation of small group theory as a framework for this change, and will provide us with an understanding of the effectiveness of this approach as well as insight into effective leadership practices and a set of concrete means for changing departmental culture to recognize and reward BP efforts. The goal of the program is to build a network of leaders in BP, a collection of tested strategies for improving departmental support for BP efforts, and a growing number of geoscience departments that are better equipped to attract and retain URM faculty and students, ultimately leading to a more diverse geoscience workforce.