Just Like Everyone Else? Locating South Asians in 21st Century American Popular Media

In the 21st century, representations of South Asians in American popular media have grown exponentially. This is a particularly interesting phenomenon when considering the status that South Asians occupy in the American racial hierarchy. In Just Like Everyone Else? Locating South Asians in 21st Century American Popular Media, I examine audience perceptions of South Asian/Indian characters and actors in American popular media. My research is guided by the following question: to what extent do audience perceptions of South Asians in U.S. popular media reflect pre-existing ideologies of race, gender, ethnicity, and immigration? Using data from 155 open-ended online questionnaires and 50 in-depth interviews, I argue that South Asian media representations today no longer embody the overt stereotypes associated with this group: savage foreigner, heavily accented new immigrant, and cheap small business owner. Rather, respondents describe and discuss contemporary representations to indicate that they are portrayed as assimilated and even Americanized. However, from a critical race perspective, I argue that while media representations of South Asians can be characterized as conforming to mainstream, white, American norms, these characters actually do little to challenge the racial status quo in American society. Additionally, these characterizations through intentional writing and casting decisions present a particular representation of American society in which racial hierarchies are maintained and not challenged

Coaching to augment mentoring to achieve faculty diversity:a randomized controlled trial

Purpose: The Academy for Future Science Faculty (the Academy) is a novel coaching intervention for biomedical PhD students designed to address limitations in previous efforts to promote faculty diversity. Unlike traditional research mentoring, the Academy includes both group and individual coaching, coaches have no research or evaluation roles with the students, and it is based on social science theories. The authors present a qualitative case study of one of the coaching groups and provide statistical analyses indicating whether one year in the Academy effects students’ perceptions of the achievability and desirability of an academic career. Method: The authors tested (July 2012–July 2013), with Northwestern University ethical approval, the Academy via a longitudinal randomized controlled trial. Participants were 121 latter-stage biomedical PhD students. The authors collected data via questionnaires, interviews, and meeting recordings. Results: The case study shows how group career coaching can effectively supplement traditional one-to-one research mentoring; provide new role models for underrepresented minority students; and provide theory-based lenses through which to engage in open conversations about race, gender, and science careers. Repeated-measures analysis of variance showed that perceived achievability increased in the Academy group from baseline to one-year follow-up (mean, 5.75 versus 6.39) but decreased in the control group (6.58 versus 5.81). Perceived desirability decreased significantly less (P < .05) in the Academy group (7.00 versus 6.36) than in the control group (7.83 versus 5.97). Conclusions: Early results suggest that an academic career coaching model can effectively supplement traditional research mentoring and promote persistence toward academic careers

The academy for future science faculty:randomized controlled trial of theory-driven coaching to shape development and diversity of early-career scientists

Background: Approaches to training biomedical scientists have created a talented research community. However, they have failed to create a professional workforce that includes many racial and ethnic minorities and women in proportion to their representation in the population or in PhD training. This is particularly true at the faculty level. Explanations for the absence of diversity in faculty ranks can be found in social science theories that reveal processes by which individuals develop identities, experiences, and skills required to be seen as legitimate within the profession. Methods/Design: Using the social science theories of Communities of Practice, Social Cognitive Career Theory, identity formation, and cultural capital, we have developed and are testing a novel coaching-based model to address some of the limitations of previous diversity approaches. This coaching intervention (The Academy for Future Science Faculty) includes annual in-person meetings of students and trained faculty Career Coaches, along with ongoing virtual coaching, group meetings and communication. The model is being tested as a randomized controlled trial with two cohorts of biomedical PhD students from across the U.S., one recruited at the start of their PhDs and one nearing completion. Stratification into the experimental and control groups, and to coaching groups within the experimental arms, achieved equal numbers of students by race, ethnicity and gender to the extent possible. A fundamental design element of the Academy is to teach and make visible the social science principles which highly influence scientific advancement, as well as acknowledging the extra challenges faced by underrepresented groups working to be seen as legitimate within the scientific communities. Discussion: The strategy being tested is based upon a novel application of the well-established principles of deploying highly skilled coaches, selected and trained for their ability to develop talents of others. This coaching model is intended to be a complement, rather than a substitute, for traditional mentoring in biomedical research training, and is being tested as such

Racial Exclusion in the Online World

As the internet has become an integral part of everyday life, it is understood that patterns of racial stereotyping and discrimination found in the offline world are often reproduced online. In our paper, we examine two exclusionary practices in an online environment for adult toy collectors: First, the exclusion of non-white individuals who are expected to form immediate friendships with other non-white members; and second, the essentializing of racial issues when concerns over the lack of racial diversity in the toys are discussed. This dismissal is often directly connected to non-white members’ decisions to no longer participate, resulting in a new form of segregation within virtual space

Summary characteristics of Participants discussed in the present analysis.

<p>Summary characteristics of Participants discussed in the present analysis.</p

Career Coaches as a Source of Vicarious Learning for Racial and Ethnic Minority PhD Students in the Biomedical Sciences: A Qualitative Study

<div><p>Introduction</p><p>Many recent mentoring initiatives have sought to help improve the proportion of underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities (URMs) in academic positions across the biomedical sciences. However, the intractable nature of the problem of underrepresentation suggests that many young scientists may require supplemental career development beyond what many mentors are able to offer. As an adjunct to traditional scientific mentoring, we created a novel academic career “coaching” intervention for PhD students in the biomedical sciences.</p><p>Objective</p><p>To determine whether and how academic career coaches can provide effective career-development-related learning experiences for URM PhD students in the biomedical sciences. We focus specifically on <i>vicarious</i> learning experiences, where individuals learn indirectly through the experiences of others.</p><p>Method</p><p>The intervention is being tested as part of a longitudinal randomized control trial (RCT). Here, we describe a nested qualitative study, using a framework approach to analyze data from a total of 48 semi-structured interviews from 24 URM PhD students (2 interviews per participant, 1 at baseline, 1 at 12-month follow-up) (16 female, 8 male; 11 Black, 12 Hispanic, 1 Native-American). We explored the role of the coach as a source of vicarious learning, in relation to the students’ goal of being future biomedical science faculty.</p><p>Results</p><p>Coaches were resources through which most students in the study were able to learn vicariously about how to pursue, and succeed within, an academic career. Coaches were particularly useful in instances where students’ research mentors are unable to provide such vicarious learning opportunities, for example because the mentor is too busy to have career-related discussions with a student, or because they have, or value, a different type of academic career to the type the student hopes to achieve.</p><p>Implications</p><p>Coaching can be an important way to address the lack of structured career development that students receive in their home training environment.</p></div

Key differences between traditional research mentoring and Career Coaching.

<p>Key differences between traditional research mentoring and Career Coaching.</p

The ASPET Mentoring Network: Enhancing Diversity and Inclusion through Career Coaching Groups within a Scientific Society

Over the past decades, two persisting priorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) training have been: 1) increasing the knowledge of and access to careers beyond academic scientist; and 2) increasing the diversity of the STEM workforce. Previous studies show that a uniquely constructed career coaching group provides strong support and progress for both priorities. This report extends this design into a more sustainable model that is positioned within the professional context of rising young scientists. This new model is based in the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET)—the ASPET Mentoring Network. Groups of PhD students and postdocs were assigned to an ASPET professional (academic or other career) member (the coach) with an initial meeting held the day before the society’s annual meeting. The coaching groups interacted during the meeting and then virtually for a year. Extensive survey and interview evaluation data gathered from the first three cohorts (12 coaching groups) in 2016– 2018 provided strong evidence of the perceived and real benefits of the network. This new version of career coaching groups is both feasible and linked to career success due to its close association with a scientific society, peers, and coaches who share scientific identities and aspirations