Mentorship, Sponsorship, and Professional Networking

Creating an ecosystem of mentorship and sponsorship requires institutional commitment and the collaboration of faculty and administrators from diverse backgrounds. From 2012 to 2018, the UC Davis ADVANCE Mentorship and Networking Initiative (MNI) partnered with the campus leadership to implement several programs and activities to support mentorship, sponsorship, and professional networking for STEM women faculty across career levels. During this award period, pilot programs aimed to provide strong mentorship for newly recruited faculty, including scholars affiliated with the Center for Multicultural Perspectives on Science (CAMPOS) as well as mid-career faculty, with the intention of scaling efforts across campus units. MNI committee projects included piloting “Launch Mentoring Committees” for 43 new faculty, support for faculty-led “New Faculty Network” monthly networking mixers, implementation of the Associate Professor Network listserv, annual co-hosting of the Fall Welcome for Women Faculty, and development of the ADVANCE Scholar Award Distinguished Lecture and Networking Reception. Though all MNI programs and activities were well-received, both faculty mentors and mentees evaluated the Launch Mentoring Committees especially positively. This program emerged as a recommended best practice for engaging new faculty and building a sense of community that crosses disciplinary and intersectional boundaries.

Going virtual for research training during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: e-SORT IT

The Structured Operational Research and Training Initiative (SORT IT) model has contributed to building research capacity and has produced evidence for improving public health program performance in countries with limited research capacity. The model involves hands-on mentorship and consists of three modules/weeks. It is recognized to be an innovative research capacity building model. In a world changed by COVID-19, where bringing people together is not viable, an innovative, interactive, web-based, knowledge-transfer platform (e-SORT IT) for virtual implementation of SORT IT modules was created. The platform design imitated the residential course as closely as possible with the same lectures, plenary sessions, and breakout rooms. Despite the challenges, the platform performed well and even though participants and mentors were located in eight different time zones, the course was successful; 90% of participants achieved their milestones and 10 manuscripts were successfully completed. Participant evaluation revealed a satisfaction level that was nearly equivalent to the residential module. However, mentor evaluation indicated a number of shortcomings including capacity building, professional networking, communication, engagement, and contribution by participants, as well as overall module success. In conclusion, COVID-19 stimulated the creation of the e-SORT IT platform that provided a functional alternative to the residential version. Despite the limitations of reduced capacity building and networking, the e-SORT IT platform should be considered a success – it delivered the goods. This is an example of innovation and flexibility, two attributes that are sorely needed to maintain activities during the pandemic and beyond.

DEEP GAMES: ADDRESSING MENTAL HEALTH THROUGH INDEPENDENT VIDEOGAME DEVELOPMENT

Game workers and reports on the videogame industry frequently document cases of anxiety, depression, burnout and impostor syndrome. Mental health issues are exacerbated among independent developers and freelancers. The article draws on interviews with four London-based independent videogame developers who have been producing 'deep games' about mental health. The article argues that conceiving, producing and releasing these videogames is understood by their makers as a strategy to establish new and 'deeper' relations with consumers, participants and other developers. Developers seek relations with other game workers and players through the process of making, researching, testing, and showing their videogames. Their responses draw on biographical self-reflexivity and are articulated within a network sociality that conceives the individual developer as the agent of change. The development of videogames about mental health is interpreted by the participants as facilitating exchanges of autobiographical experiences that are otherwise regulated by the norms of professional networking. At the same time, these exchanges aim at the establishment of new forms of sociality and at a fairer and more inclusive videogame industry.

It’s not what you know, it’s who you know: diagnosing and healing your informal professional networks

Traditional medical training fails to address the competitive realities of the job market and the critical role of informal professional networks in career development and advancement. Moreover, the concept of informal professional networking is scarcely represented in the medical literature. Borrowing from management science, I discuss the roles of informal professional networks; strategies to establish healthy and effective networks; and important barriers encountered by networkers, namely feelings of inauthenticity and inequities resulting from gender and race.

Seeking Deep Relations in a Precarious Industry: Addressing Mental Health through Independent Videogame Development

Anxiety, depression, burnout and impostor syndrome are frequently reported among those who work in the videogame industry, and are exacerbated among independents and freelancers. The article draws on interviews with four London-based independent videogame developers who have engaged with the production of videogames about mental health. The article argues that conceiving, producing and releasing these games is understood by their makers as a strategy to establish relations with consumers, participants and other developers that could break the invisible barriers that prevent dialogs around mental wellness. More than being concerned with the outcome of their work or its commercial success, developers seek relations with other game workers and players through the process of making, researching, testing, and showing their videogames. The development of videogames about mental health is interpreted by the participants as facilitating exchanges of autobiographical experiences that are otherwise regulated by the norms of professional networking.

Undergraduate research programs build skills for diverse students

While many professional societies, colleges, and universities offer undergraduate summer research experience (URE) programs for students, few have systematically evaluated their programs for impacts on the fellows. The American Physiological Society (APS) developed and administered multiple UREs with varying target groups: students with and without prior research experiences and students from disadvantaged groups, including underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities (URM), persons with disabilities, first generation college students, and persons with financial or social disadvantages. Each program had specific goals and measurable objectives. To assess the impact of these programs, APS both documented student completion of program tasks (e.g., designing experiments, analyzing data, writing abstracts) and developed reliable and valid survey instruments to quantify students’ self-ratings on a variety of research and career planning skills related to the program objectives. Results indicate that fellows as a whole and for most individual programs gained skills and knowledge in numerous areas: experimental design, data management, lab safety, statistical analysis, data presentation, scientific writing, scientific presentation, professional networking, professional networking at scientific meetings, authorship attribution, animal use in research, human subjects in research, roles of lab mates and mentors, and research career training and planning. Furthermore, there were few differences within the diversity comparison groups (women vs. men, URM fellows vs. non-URM fellows, etc.). Suggestions for improvement of URE programs are proposed.

Interventions for Improving Professional Networking for Women: Experimental Evidence from the IT Sector

Professional networks are vital for individuals’ career advancement. Research demonstrates, however, that women are often disadvantaged in their access to such networks. Using a randomized field experiment at an IT conference, we found that women had worse networking outcomes than men. Relative to men, women met 42% fewer new contacts, spent 48% less time talking to them, and added 25% fewer LinkedIn connections. We theorize that in fields where women are underrepresented (e.g., IT) two networking barriers—search and social—differentially affect men and women. We designed and experimentally tested interventions for reducing these barriers. The search intervention was designed to facilitate locating diverse contacts and information. The social intervention was designed to facilitate helping behavior and connecting across social boundaries. Our findings indicate that the search intervention increased the number of new contacts women met by 57%, the time they spent talking with them by 90%, the number of LinkedIn connections they added by 29%, and their odds of changing jobs by a factor of 1.6. The social intervention also increased the time women spent talking to new contacts by 66%. However, the interventions did not improve men’s outcomes. Our results show that simple interventions can help women expand their networks and find jobs.

Do Male and Female Students Use Networks Differently?

Gender differences in professional networks have been shown to contribute to men and women's disparate labor market outcomes. This gap could be due to differences in network access, differences in network usage, or both. Using novel administrative data from a student-alumni professional networking website, we study gender differences in student network usage, holding network access fixed. Focusing on messages sent by students to alumni, we document that male and female students network similarly, in terms of both the number of messages sent and the specific questions asked. Furthermore, there are only small gender differences in question tone.