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

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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.