The National Science Foundation-funded ADVANCEGeo project has released a collection of online resources for the community on relevant research and tested strategies to respond to sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination in academia. These public resources can be used to: define and understand harassment, bullying, and discrimination; design codes of conduct, including for field research projects and courses; and identify best strategies for creating inclusive and equitable workplace climates. The online resource center is hosted by the Science Education and Research Center at Carleton College.
Archives for July 2018
Wisconsin HOPE Lab closes doors, but research on college affordability continues
The Wisconsin HOPE Lab at UW-Madison, which made headlines with research showing many college students struggle to find enough to eat and a place to live, has closed with the expiration of its funding.
Other UW-Madison researchers are engaged in research focusing on marginalized students, however. And HOPE Lab founder Sara Goldrick-Rab is launching a new research center at Temple University in Philadelphia that is an evolution of the Wisconsin lab.
“CCWT wants to give a voice to marginalized students who often serve as research subjects, but do not actively participate in the college-to-work debate. For instance, a current study is looking at how, or how not, Latinx college students benefit from student services and resources at their schools,” said Janet Kelly, WCER director of communications.
Some Lesser-Known Truths About Academe
Asking a professor whether you should pursue a Ph.D. is a little like asking The Rock — aka Dwayne Douglas Johnson, the world’s highest-paid actor last year — whether you should become an actor.
Once you enter a doctoral program, the main problem isn’t necessarily that you can’t finish. I know very few people who left graduate school because they weren’t smart enough to finish — it happens, but it’s rare. More often people leave because they just decide getting a Ph.D. isn’t for them. The truth is: It’s very difficult to understand what academic life is like until you actually try it, and lots of people try it and decide it’s not a good fit.
This, then, is why you should be wary of any advice you receive from professors about graduate school: It’s coming entirely from people who decided that academe was a good fit for them.
Federally Funded Programs Are Not Enough to Diversify the STEM Workforce
The Government Accountability Office (GOA) reported that of the 13 federal agencies surveyed that administer science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education programs, there were 163 STEM programs funded in fiscal year 2016 that were designed to increase the number of historically underrepresented students studying or improve the quality of education in STEM.
New UW Collaborative Center for Health Equity (CCHE) Associate Director Named
The UW Collaborative Center for Health Equity (CCHE) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Angela Byars-Winston as an Associate Director.
Dr. Byars-Winston is a Professor in the University of Wisconsin, Department of Medicine and Division of General Internal Medicine. She is also Director of Research and Evaluation in the UW Center for Women’s Health Research and Faculty Affiliate of the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER). She is co-investigator on the NIGMS National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) grant in the Mentor Training Core, through which she leads the Culturally Aware Mentorship Initiative. Dr. Byars-Winston is nationally recognized for her research examining cultural influences on academic and career development, especially for racial and ethnic minorities and women in the sciences, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM), with the aim of broadening their participation and success in these fields. She currently leads the National Academy of Sciences consensus study on STEMM mentoring programs and practices at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
