Collaboration and Gender Equity among Academic Scientists

Universities were established as hierarchical bureaucracies that reward individual attainment in evaluating success. Yet collaboration is crucial both to 21st century science and, we argue, to advancing equity for women academic scientists. We draw from research on gender equity and on collaboration in higher education, and report on data collected on one campus. Sixteen focus group meetings were held with 85 faculty members from STEM departments, separated by faculty rank and gender (i.e., assistant professor men, full professor women). Participants were asked structured questions about the role of collaboration in research, career development, and departmental decision-making. Inductive analyses of focus group data led to the development of a theoretical model in which resources, recognition, and relationships create conditions under which collaboration is likely to produce more gender equitable outcomes for STEM faculty. Ensuring women faculty have equal access to resources is central to safeguarding their success; relationships, including mutual mentoring, inclusion and collegiality, facilitate women’s careers in academia; and recognition of collaborative work bolsters women’s professional advancement. We further propose that gender equity will be stronger in STEM where resources, relationships, and recognition intersect—having multiplicative rather than additive effects

An Assessment of the Academic Impact of Shock Society Members

Professional society membership enhances career development and productivity by offering opportunities for networking and learning about recent advances in the field. The quality and contribution of such societies can be measured in part through the academic productivity, career status, and funding success rates of their members. Here, using Scopus, NIH RePORTER, and departmental websites, we compare characteristics of the Shock Society membership to those of the top 55 NIH-funded American university and hospital-based departments of surgery. Shock Society members' mean number of publications, citations and H-indices were all significantly higher than those of non-members in surgery departments (P < 0.001). A higher percentage of members also have received funding from the NIH (42.5% vs. 18.5%, P < 0.001). Regression analysis indicated that members were more likely to have NIH funding compared with non-members (OR 1.46, 95% CI 1.12-1.916). Trauma surgeons belonging to the Shock Society had a higher number of publications and greater NIH funding than those who did not (130.4 vs. 42.7, P < 0.001; 40.4% vs. 8.5%, P < 0.001). Aggregate academic metrics from the Shock Society were superior to those of the Association for Academic Surgery and generally for the Society of University Surgeons as well. These data indicate that the Shock Society represents a highly academic and productive group of investigators. For surgery faculty, membership is associated with greater academic productivity and career advancement. While it is difficult to ascribe causation, certainly the Shock Society might positively influence careers for its members

Research, Teaching and Service: Why Shouldn't Women's Work Count?

This article examines one way institutionalized sexism operates in the university setting by examining the gender roles and gender hierarchies implicit in (allegedly gender-neutral) university tenure and promotion policies. Current working assumptions regarding (1) what constitutes good research, teaching, and service and (2) the relative importance of each of these endeavors reflect and perpetuate masculine values and practices, thus preventing the professional advancement of female faculty both individually and collectively. A gendered division of labor exists within (as outside) the contemporary academy wherein research is implicitly deemed "men's work" and is explicitly valued, whereas teaching and service are characterized as "women's work" and explicitly devalued

Mentoring promotion/tenure-seeking faculty: principles of good practice within a counselor education program

Approaches to mentoring junior faculty in counselor education departments have received minimal attention in the counseling literature. In this article, the authors describe a successful program based on the 10 principles for good mentoring recommended by Sorcinelli (2000). Application of the principles within a combined formal and informal mentoring approach is described, as are the experiences of junior faculty whose careers have been shaped within this system

The Role of Mentorship in Shaping Public Library Leaders

published or submitted for publicatio

Mentoring educational leadership doctoral students: Using methodological diversification to examine gender and identity intersections

An essential component to learning and teaching in educational leadership is mentoring graduate students for successful transition to K-12 and higher education positions. This study integrates quantitative and qualitative datasets to examine doctoral students’ experiences with mentoring from macro and micro perspectives. Findings show that students have varied perceptions on what constitutes quality mentoring and wide-ranging experiences in terms of the quantity and quality of mentoring experienced. Moreover, findings suggest that the ways students perceive and experience mentoring is related to their identity factors, especially gender. Findings have implications for strengthening this essential component of leadership preparation programs; and thus, recommendations for different strategies, programmatic supports, and structural changes within university departments and professional organizations are forwarded

A Case Study on the Barbara L. Jackson Scholars Mentoring Program and its Role in the Doctoral Preparation of Jackson Scholars for the Professoriate in Educational Administration at Predominately White Institutions

This dissertation is a qualitative research inquiry that used single-case study methodology to investigate the role of the Barbara L. Jackson Scholars Program in the doctoral preparation of Jackson Scholars for the Professoriate in educational administration at predominately White institutions (PWIs). Drawing from literature on effective mentoring practices for doctoral students in higher educational settings, the experiences of the Jackson Scholars in the Jackson Scholars Mentoring Program (Jackson Scholars Program) are viewed. Two primary lenses - Jacobi\u27s, (1991) seminal work framed around three commonly used mentoring components in higher education (psychosocial support, role modeling and professional development) and Tillman\u27s (2001) work on effective mentoring relationships and strategies for minority doctoral students preparation for the professoriate in educational administration at PWIs are used to look at mentoring in the Jackson Scholars Program in order to determine the effectiveness of the Jackson Scholars Program. Findings in this study derived from their experiences bring to the forefront the importance as well as the impact of mentoring in the Jackson Scholars Program and the role it plays in facilitating the successful doctoral preparation of Jackson Scholars for the professoriate in educational administration at PWIs. Specific factors that emerged as most attributable to their matriculation from doctoral studies to the professoriate are also enumerated. New data from this study may be used to develop or enhance mentoring in the Jackson Scholars Program in order to improve support for the preparation of doctoral students of color for the professoriate at PWIs. And finally, this study is relevant to the field of Education because it supplies data that may help fill a void in adolescent literature on the impact of preparing significantly more doctoral students of color for the professoriate in Educational Administration at PWIs

Collaborations and Gender Equity among Academic Scientists

Universities were established as hierarchical bureaucracies that reward individual attainment in evaluating success. Yet collaboration is crucial both to 21st century science and, we argue, to advancing equity for women academic scientists. We draw from research on gender equity and on collaboration in higher education, and report on data collected on one campus. Sixteen focus group meetings were held with 85 faculty members from STEM departments, separated by faculty rank and gender (i.e., assistant professor men, full professor women). Participants were asked structured questions about the role of collaboration in research, career development, and departmental decision-making. Inductive analyses of focus group data led to the development of a theoretical model in which resources, recognition, and relationships create conditions under which collaboration is likely to produce more gender equitable outcomes for STEM faculty. Ensuring women faculty have equal access to resources is central to safeguarding their success; relationships, including mutual mentoring, inclusion and collegiality, facilitate women’s careers in academia; and recognition of collaborative work bolsters women’s professional advancement. We further propose that gender equity will be stronger in STEM where resources, relationships, and recognition intersect—having multiplicative rather than additive effects

CONSTRUCTING A MEASURE TO ASSESS THE PERCEIVED BENEFITS OF FACULTY-TO-FACULTY MENTORING PROGRAMS: APPLYING A RASCH MEASUREMENT THEORY FOR CALIBRATION AND ITEM INVESTIGATION

The need to recruit quality professors into research-1 institutions continues to be a priority among American universities (Solem & Foote, 2004), but the ability to retain them is another story. The tenure process is quite demanding in such institutions where much emphasis is often placed on high quality research and publishing in reputable peer-reviewed journals (Boyer, 1992; DeFleur, 2007). Some scholars have identified faculty-to-faculty mentoring as one of many things institutions can promote to motivate beginning faculty to persist and complete the tenure process (Boice, 1991). On the other, others feel such activities are not necessary (Selby & Calhoun, 1998). Faculty-to-faculty mentoring could be beneficial, but institutions should have a tool to assess whether faculty members desire to receive mentoring. The literature review revealed that fields in social sciences lack well-developed quantitative data collection tool for such purposes. This study was, therefore, carried out to develop an instrument to fill that gap, especially in the era of data-driven decision making models. The new provides a foundation for other researchers to build on. The Rasch-Andrich Rating Scale model was applied in the item investigation and calibration. Response rate was 45.57% and the majority of respondents agreed that faculty-to-faculty mentoring is beneficial to faculty members who are on the tenure track

The Experiences of Women in a U.S. Department of Education School Leadership Preparation Cohort Program: A Case Study

This study allows the voices of nine educational practitioners participating in a school leadership preparation cohort to be heard. The main unit of analysis was a closed cohort within a university\u27s educational leadership program conducted in partnership with a local school district. The purpose of this case study was to explore the experiences of women currently and previously enrolled in a school leadership preparation cohort program. This study was conducted with the intent that experiences of the participants will provide insight for other women who aspire to leadership positions who are enrolled in school leadership principal preparation cohorts. The goal of this study was to gain an understanding of the experiences of aspiring and established female leaders through their journeys. The case study revealed the participants\u27 perceptions and experiences of the school leadership preparation cohort, how it has impacted their leadership decisions, and the perceived relationship between mentors and mentees. A triangulated protocol employed interviews and review of documents to illuminate the inquiry questions. Outcomes provided understandings about school leadership preparation cohorts through discernment of the experiences and beliefs of the women currently and previously enrolled in this cohort