Do I Belong? Imposter Syndrome in Times of Crisis

While not a new phenomenon, impostor syndrome is still a relatively new topic among library professionals. Though prior studies for other professions exist, impostor syndrome in the library profession was not extensively researched until 2014. As the world fights the current global pandemic, new questions about impostor syndrome and work-from-home strategies arise. This article reviews the early history of impostor syndrome research, explores impostor syndrome research related to library professionals and work during an ongoing public health emergency, considers ways to combat the phenomenon, and suggests next steps

Cultivating Graduate Writing Groups as Communities of Practice: A Call to Action for the Writing Center

According to the Council of Graduate Schools, the attrition rate for graduate students is high and becomes higher when looking at underrepresented populations inside the academy. One particular need that has been identified is that of writing support for doctoral students (Kamler and Thomson xi; Mullen 117; Paltridge and Starfield 53). This article builds on this call by giving attention to writing support for graduate students in the form of doctoral writing groups, specifically facilitated by writing centers. These graduate student-writing groups are comprised of graduate students, who share their writing and give feedback on writing inperson during regular group meetings. As such, these graduate writing groups function as a community of practice through which we trace the struggles, benefits, and implications of writing groups for ameliorating access and equity issues in graduate writing support. This article focuses on experiences of the authors’ own writing group, in which they have participated throughout their doctoral education. We employ an inductive, multi-narrative approach to examine the underlying needs of graduate student writers and we suggest facilitating a writing group as a way to meet those needs. As such, this project sheds new light on the successes and struggles of a graduate student writing group and how writing centers can provide support for these groups. As a type of “third space,” operating apart from faculty purview, the writing center is an ideal place to formalize, organize, and invigorate graduate writing communities by initiating and hosting graduate writing groups.University Writing Cente

Leaders of the Pack: Women and the Future of Veterinary Medicine

Veterinary medicine has undergone sweeping changes in the last few decades. Women now account for 55 percent of the active veterinarians in the field, and nearly 80 percent of veterinary students are women. However, average salaries have dropped as this shift has occurred, and even with women in the vast majority, only 25 percent of leadership roles are held by women. These trends point to gender-based inequality that veterinary medicine, a profession that tilts so heavily toward women, is struggling to address. How will the profession respond? What will this mean for our students and schools? What will it mean for our pets entrusted to veterinarian care? Who has succeeded in these situations? Who is taking action to lead change? What can we learn from them to lead the pack in our lives? Leaders of the Pack, by Julie Kumble and Dr. Donald Smith, explores key themes in leadership and highlights women in veterinary medicine whose stories embody those themes. In it, Kumble and Smith cull over three years of interviews to profile a wide variety of women as they share triumphs and challenges, lucky as well as tough breaks, and the sound advice and words that inspired them to take their careers in unanticipated directions. By sharing unique stories that illuminate different paths to leadership and reflecting on best practices through commentary and research, Leaders of the Pack will allow more female leaders to create wider pathways to the top of their profession.https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/ndhab/1001/thumbnail.jp

On very thin ice: Impostor phenomenon and careers of women graduate students

The impostor phenomenon (IP) is characterized by denial of competence and discounting achievements combined with a fear of failure and fear and guilt about success (Clance & Imes, 1978). People with impostor feelings engage in behaviors such as perfectionism, which may lead to accolades, yet paradoxically hinder subsequent achievements. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore how graduate student women describe their experiences of IP and to investigate how IP affects their careers. The mixed-method design incorporated data from two focus groups, 506 survey responses, and eight interviews. Nearly 3 in 4 women self-identified with IP, however, it emerged in different ways (e.g., fear of making mistakes, second-guessing merits, attributing success to flukes). Findings showed that impostor feelings were associated with psychological constructs (i.e., perfectionism, core self-evaluations, and symptoms of anxiety and depression) in hypothesized directions. Women described multiple ways their salient identities compounded impostor feelings. Regarding career- related consequences, women often inhibited themselves by not submitting applications, staying silent, not venturing outside their comfort zone, isolating, procrastinating, setting lower goals, or quitting. Results also uncovered poor psychometric properties of the widely used Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale, therefore, caution is encouraged when using this scale in the future. This indicates a need for clearer construct definition and measurement, potentially with two new scales generated from this study. Women shared hundreds of suggestions such as a shift in mindset in terms of attitude regarding schooling, expectations, and taking ownership of achievements. Additionally, sharing impostor feelings with others emerged as an overarching theme. Overall, findings point to the urgency of clarifying the construct and future replication studies with other populations and methods, particularly given the proliferation of writing about “imposter syndrome.” Results may inform modifications to graduate training programs and interventions to promote women’s career development during their time in graduate school and in their subsequent careers

Moral Culture: Public Morality and Private Responsibility

When Mikhail Gorbachev unfurled his reform banners in the late 1980\u27s, many observers inside and outside Russia hailed perestroika as a moral renaissance. The Soviet Union was indeed a spiritually bankrupt society at the time, its citizens demanding a clean break with the past and yearning for a better future. Despite the new openness or glasnost, the changes have been slow in coming and often very controversial. A public opinion survey conducted in February 1991 showed the country morally adrift and deeply divided about the course of reforms

Confronting myself: Using auto/biography to explore the impact of class and education on the formation of self and identity

In this paper I illustrate how auto/biography, drawing on feminist research methodology, enabled me to chronicle and theorise the lived experience of class relations in the academy. I explain how auto-diegetic auto/biographical doctoral research has provided me with ‘both a mode of representation and a mode of reasoning’ (Richardson, 1997, p. 28) which was therapeutic, reflexive, as well as agentic to help me understand the sense of displacement in the academy and how I used my doctorate to redress that

What Comes Next? Simple Practices to Improve Diversity in Science

Relative to our occurrence in the American workforce, black and brown scientists are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Though not insulated from cynics, there generally appears to be manifold support among the chemistry community to ensure underrepresented groups have equal participation in the field. This is clear given the emergence of support statements from several high-profile faculty members, many of whom are editors and board members of the fields' most important journals. What's lacking, however, are tractable action plans that can eliminate structural prejudice in science. In today's climate, a passionate plea against inequity (often delivered through social media or other powerful platforms) will rightfully and undoubtedly attract viewership. However, as the civil rights activists of the 1950s and 1960s would say, What happens after the message is delivered? In this editorial, we highlight examples of bias in science. Based on our experiences (chemists from industry, a historically black college and university (HBCU), and both private and public R1 universities), we offer solutions that will ensure scientists from underrepresented groups gain and maintain equal participation in science

Doctoral supervision and COVID-19: Autoethnographies from four faculty across three continents

Doctoral students represent the fresh and creative intellectuals needed to address the many social, economic, political, health care, and education disparities that have been highlighted by the 2020 pandemic. Our work as doctoral student supervisors could not be more central nor vital than it was at the beginning of, during, and following the pandemic. Written during the pandemic of 2020, the purpose of this paper was to describe how four faculty from three continents navigated their relationships with doctoral students in the research and dissertation phase of their doctoral programs. Using a common set of prompts, four faculty members each wrote an autoethnography of our experience as doctoral student supervisors. Even though our basic advising philosophies and contexts were quite different, we learned about the possibility and power of resilience, empathy, and mentoring online. Our findings imply that new online practices could be closely examined and retained after the pandemic to expand the reach, depth and impact of doctoral education