scholarly journals Creating a “Safe and Supportive Environment:” Mentoring and Professional Development for Recent Black Women Doctoral Graduates

10.28945/2305 ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 483-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Bertrand Jones ◽  
La'Tara Osborne-Lampkin ◽  
Shawna M. Patterson ◽  
Danielle Joy Davis
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Professional Development Program ◽  
Formal Structure ◽  
Mentoring Relationships ◽  
Women Doctoral Students

Formal structures that support doctoral student socialization are limited, while formal programs for Black women doctoral students specifically are even more scarce. The purpose of this research was to examine an early career professional development program for Black women doctoral students and its influence on the mentoring relationships developed by participants. We conducted individual interviews with six Black women who participated in the Research BootCamp®, an early career professional development program, as doctoral students. Two salient features of the program were identified, including its structure and intentional focus on intersectionality. Our findings also indicate that early career professional development provided opportunities for participants to develop sustainable mentoring relationships. The formal structure of the Research BootCamp® facilitated Black women doctoral students in developing mentoring networks through continued engagement with senior scholars and peers, provided social support, created outlets for professional development, built research capacity, and contributed to Black women’s overall socialization to the academy.

scholarly journals Learning to Thrive: Building Diverse Scientists’ Access to Community and Resources through the BRAINS Program

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. ar49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cara Margherio ◽  
M. Claire Horner-Devine ◽  
Sheri J. Y. Mizumori ◽  
Joyce W. Yen
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Weak Sense ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Mentoring Relationships ◽  
Informal Networks ◽  
Career Trajectory ◽  
Early Results ◽  
Long Term Impact

BRAINS: Broadening the Representation of Academic Investigators in NeuroScience is a National Institutes of Health–funded, national program that addresses challenges to the persistence of diverse early-career neuroscientists. In doing so, BRAINS aims to advance diversity in neuroscience by increasing career advancement and retention of post-PhD, early-career neuroscientists from underrepresented groups (URGs). The comprehensive professional development program is structured to catalyze conversations specific to URGs in neuroscience and explicitly addresses factors known to impact persistence such as a weak sense of belonging to the scientific community, isolation and solo status, inequitable access to resources that impact career success, and marginalization from informal networks and mentoring relationships. While we do not yet have data on the long-term impact of the BRAINS program on participants’ career trajectory and persistence, we introduce the BRAINS program theory and report early quantitative and qualitative data on shorter-term individual impacts within the realms of career-advancing behaviors and career experiences. These early results suggest promising, positive career productivity, increased self-efficacy, stronger sense of belonging, and new perspectives on navigating careers for BRAINS participants. We finish by discussing recommendations for future professional development programs and research designed to broaden participation in the biomedical and life sciences.

scholarly journals Significant process of change for elementary teachers to foster functional thinking

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (47) ◽  
pp. 1007-1015
Author(s):  
Nasim Asghary ◽  
Ahmad Shahvarani ◽  
Ali Reza Medghalchi
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Elementary Teachers ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Practice Change ◽  
Professional Development Program ◽  
Process Of Change ◽  
Functional Thinking ◽  
Level Of Use ◽  
Significant Process ◽  
Adaptation Model

The purpose of this study was to explore a professional development program that involved 15 teachers. Functional thinking was used as a centerpiece of the program for work with teachers of Grades 1-5 during 6 months of the study. We used the concern-based adaptation model (CBAM) as a methodology to track the process of change of teachers and to understand the trajectories through which teachers may progress. Two questions guided the investigations: 1. How does implementation of the professional development program focused on functional thinking impact teachers' concerns? 2. How did teachers' practice change due to the implementation of the innovation program? The result of the study showed effectiveness of process of change in teachers, both in stages of concerns and level of use of the innovation.

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