DPC Newsletter
Moving the Effort of the DPC Forward
Volume 8, Issue 2
August 2023
Research Digest
Change Agents at SF State publish paper to redress inequities in faculty hiring
San Francisco State University (SFSU) faculty members Rori Rohlfs, PhD, and Leticia Márquez-Magaña, PhD, are the senior authors of an article published in PLOS One that documents successful practices for redressing inequities in faculty hiring. Rohlfs is a faculty “Agent of Change” and Márquez-Magaña is the principal investigator for the SF BUILD program.
Together with co-authors that include the former SF State provost, current academic senate chair and an undergraduate mentee, the paper shows the value of leveraging the principle of interest convergence for faculty diversity. This principle for social change proposes that the interests of minoritized individuals and the dominant majority is necessary for creation of policies and practices to advance equity.
Read the article titled "Improving biology faculty diversity through a co-hiring policy and faculty agents of change" at PLOS One.
Citation: Harris M, Rosser S, Goldman M, Márquez-Magaña L, Rohlfs RV (2023) Improving biology faculty diversity through a co-hiring policy and faculty agents of change. PLoS ONE 18(5): e0285602. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285602
Guiding principles for culturally responsive facilitation
An advance online publication titled “Guiding principles for culturally responsive facilitation: Lessons learned from delivering culturally aware mentor training to STEMM faculty” is now available. The manuscript is authored by National Research Mentoring Network U01 researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Open access to the article will be available in March 2024; until then, the abstract is available on APA PsychNet and the entire article may be read through subscription or purchase.
Abstract: “Diversifying the academic workforce requires equitable and inclusive training environments. Essential to achieving this goal is understanding the relevance of racial and cultural identities in our interactions and a willingness and ability to engage in frank discussions about race and racism. Grounded in reflective practice, somatic abolitionism, and social justice education theory, this practice brief articulates six guiding principles for culturally responsive facilitation within diversity, equity, and inclusion workshops for adult learners. We use our collective experience implementing a mentorship education intervention, Culturally Aware Mentoring, with faculty in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine to illustrate these principles.”
Citation: House, S. C., Byars-Winston, A., Zárate, S., Azurdia, D. E., Birren, B., Cheng, P., Diggs-Andrews, K., Lee, S. P., Martínez-Hernández, K., McGee, R., Prunuske, A., Ramírez, K., & Sorkness, C. A. (2023). Guiding principles for culturally responsive facilitation: Lessons learned from delivering culturally aware mentor training to STEMM faculty. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.
Building a diverse biomedical workforce through Communication Across Difference (CAD)
A new article published in the Chronicle of Mentoring and Coaching features research on two mentoring interventions that leverage ties between language and identity to improve mentor-mentee relationships. The second study, “Building a Diverse Biomedical Workforce through Communication Across Difference (CAD)” was funded through the NRMN U01 award based at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (PI: Carrie Cameron, PhD).
The paper presents overviews of the interventions as well as a discussion of outcomes, highlighting the value and importance of communication in mentoring relationships. The research suggests that “simple communication interventions can be learned and applied” and benefit both mentors and mentees.
Read the article at the Chronicle’s website.
Citation: C Cameron, HY Lee, S Chang, E Dahlstrom, & G Unguez. The Chronicle of Mentoring and Coaching, 6(Special Issue 15): 766–770. December 2022.
Career advancement and culture change in biomedical research
A new article from researchers working with the NRMN U01 Research Project “Career Advancement and Culture Change in Biomedical Research: Group Peer Mentoring Outcomes and Mechanisms” at Brandeis University looks at challenges midcareer faculty face. Through a survey, the researchers found that respondents, all of whom were midcareer PhDs and physician investigators, faced significant career challenges. A common issue for different groups was poor quality mentoring, although experiences differed by URM status, gender and degree.
Read the article at the Cambridge University Press website.
Citation: Pololi, L., Evans, A., Civian, J., Cooper, L., Gibbs, B., Ninteau, K., . . . Brennan, R. (2023). Are researchers in academic medicine flourishing? A survey of midcareer Ph.D. and physician investigators. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, 7(1), E105. doi:10.1017/cts.2023.525
Perseverance and consistency of interest in underrepresented post-doctoral fellows and early-career faculty
Researchers affiliated with Building Up, an NRMN U01 research project based at the University of Pittsburgh, recently published a cross-sectional data analysis looking at some of the factors related to career success among underrepresented post-doctoral fellows and early-career faculty. Because perseverance and consistency of interest are associated with career success in well-represented physicians, the team looked at associations of perseverance and consistency of interest with Clinical Research Appraisal Inventory (CRAI), science identity and other factors, from respondents who are fromfor backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in their field. They found “that perseverance and consistency of interest are related to CRAI and science identity, indicating that these factors may positively influence one’s decision to stay in research.”
Read “Perseverance and consistency of interest in underrepresented post-doctoral fellows and early-career faculty” at the Cambridge University Press website.
Citation: Maya S. Thakar, Chantele Mitchell-Miland, Natalia E. Morone, Andrew D. Althouse, Audrey J. Murrell, Doris M. Rubio, & Gretchen E. White. Perserverance and consistency of interest in underrepresented post-doctoral fellows and early-career faculty. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, 7(1): e100. April 2023.
The Diversity Program Consortium Coordination and Evaluation Center at UCLA is supported by Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health / National Institutes of General Medical Sciences under award number U54GM119024.
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