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

变革公园的一部分是通过改善部门文化和支持代表不足的少数群体(URM)教员，利用小团体作为变革推动者，努力增加地球科学的多样性。地球科学教师的多样性仍然远远低于总体人口，这对吸引和留住多样化的学生群体产生了影响。在这项工作中，我们专注于通过使用由对扩大参与(BP)努力感兴趣的初级URM教员(？火花？)、相同部门的更资深合作伙伴(？合作伙伴？)组成的小组来改善代表性不足的教师的留住。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潜在原因可能是制度环境，在这种环境下，部门几乎没有动力认可或奖励BP在任期和晋升方面的努力，导致了一种不认为BP的努力很重要的文化，以及一种URM教职员工感觉不到支持的环境。解决这一问题的有效方法是与小组一起进行适当的领导力培训，这些小组在制定部门计划以改变本部门的文化方面得到授权和支持；并应用扎根的理论来收集支持正在进行的变化的数据。IISPark for Change以为期三天的研讨会为中心，并提供后续支持，该研讨会将建立一个学者网络，专注于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，并支持他们制定个性化的变革计划。研讨会将汇集来自一系列不同机构类型的十个小组，包括Spark、合作伙伴和赞助商，以进行领导能力培训、分享扩大参与战略和制定实际目标。持续的支持，包括对努力的评价、资源的开发和联盟建设，将继续增强这些团体在返回其机构后实施变革的能力。《变革的火花》将小团体理论作为这一变革的框架，这一点是新颖的，它将使我们了解这种方法的有效性，并洞察有效的领导实践，以及一套改变部门文化以表彰和奖励BP努力的具体手段。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努力的支持，并建立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教职员工和学生，最终导致地球科学劳动力更加多样化。

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.