NSF Awards: 1813017
This 3-minute video presentation showcases highlights from our NSF-funded INCLUDES Symposium, ADVANCING Latinas in STEM Academic Careers, a two-part national convening (May 2019 and May 2020) that disseminated best practices for broadening the participation and advancement of Latinas in STEM. The team for this project includes Dr. Ala R. Qubbaj, the PI & Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), Dr. Marci R. McMahon, Co-PI and Professor in the College of Liberal Arts at UTRGV, and Dr. Marie T. Mora, Co-PI and Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives at the University of Missouri St. Louis.
Dr. Marci McMahon
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Thank you for taking the time to view our video related to our NSF-funded INCLUDES Symposium, ADVANCING Latinas in STEM Academic Careers, a two-part national convening (May 2019 and May 2021) that disseminated best practices for broadening the participation and advancement of Latinas in STEM!
We'd love to hear any of your feedback, including your responses to these questions!
1) What have you found to be the best practices for advancing Latinas, and other BIPOC, in STEM careers?
2) What are some of the obstacles you have encountered?
3) What networks are you connected with, or would like to connect with, to advance BIPOC, especially Latinas, in STEM careers?
4) What questions do you have for us?
Claudia Bolaños
Dr. Marie Mora
Dr. Ala Qubbaj
Dean
Thanks for viewing our video on the advancing Latinas in Academic STEM careers project. Let us know if you have any questions and/or if you like to share best practices about advancing Latinas in STEM.
Dr. Marie Mora
Dr. Marci McMahon
Dr. Marie Mora
Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives
We are excited to share our video on the NSF INCLUDES Symposium on ADVANCING Latinas in STEM Academic careers, and greatly appreciate your interest! As Dr. Marci McMahon mentioned, we are interested in your feedback, including on the four questions she asks. #NSF_INCLUDES_Latinas
Dr. Marci McMahon
Gerhard Salinger
Former Program Officer
The issue of developing a diverse educational workforce is important and you are making progress. Are you evaluating which activities are most impactful? At this STEM for All Video Show Case, there are several projects that are encouraging diverse groups into careers. Have you found some common themes that would inform your project?
Dr. Marci McMahon
Lelli Van Den Einde
It is important that people feel they are well represented and can find mentors that they can relate to. How can you more broadly extend your impact of your program to other institutions? Great work.
Dr. Marci McMahon
Dr. Marie Mora
Margie Vela
CEO & President
This is incredible work! Latinas in STEM academic careers are severely underrepresented. One of the challenges that have been documented for Latinas in higher education is the invisible (unrecognized) labor that arises when the population of faculty is incongruent with the population of students. It seems that students seek mentors who they feel they most relate to, thus Latinas often seek Latina mentors. Often we see that underrepresented faculty then bare a larger load of mentoring work, as they are highly sought after by underrepresented students. What are some of the best practices you have found for helping to support faculty that find themselves in this situation?
Great project!
Dr. Marci McMahon
Jackelyn Lopez Roshwalb
Dr. Marie Mora
Claudia Bolaños
Claudia Bolaños
Agreed! Not just in STEM careers, but in academic careers as a whole. I'm a Latina from the mid-Atlantic region. Growing up, the only Latino faculty in our schools were assistants and custodians. And the occasional Spanish teacher (if the school offered Spanish classes). Basically no Latinos in any core teaching or administrator roles. Teachers here are mostly White.
Back when I taught kindergarten, I was often the first person our Latino kids would approach! Made me realize this was their first time seeing a teacher like them. And how underrepresented those kids probably felt too.
(SIDE NOTE: I'm also part Chinese, had a similar experience with the only Chinese kid in that same school)
Dr. Marci McMahon
Jackelyn Lopez Roshwalb
Dr. Marie Mora
Chris Dede
Marci, this is an exciting project. We are planning to develop tools and insights from our work in the National Institute for Adult Education and Online Learning that may be helpful to you.
Dr. Marci McMahon
Tim Podkul
Senior Research Advisor
Thank you for this work, and for sharing your approach and tools in the in the future. With a growing number of HSIs in the US, there is an incredible opportunity to broaden the implementation of what is learned through this work. I too am interested in the question that Dr. Vela posed about mitigating the overloads on Latina faculty members. In addition, I am curious if there are any models that partner or directly reach out to recruit seniors in high school?
Dr. Marci McMahon
Dr. Marie Mora
Claudia Bolaños
Great presentation! Excited to see how your program may advance more Latinas not just into STEM careers, but into academic careers as a whole. In my experience , Latino students vastly outnumber Latino teachers. Even in neighborhoods with a huge Latino population.
I'm curious, what is the general age range of students in your program? I can see this being highly appealing to any little girls curious about a STEM career :)
Dr. Marie Mora
Dr. Marci McMahon
Dr. Marie Mora
Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives
Our main focus is on Latina faculty in STEM academic careers precisely because of the very small numbers of Latinas (and Latinos) in STEM (and in higher education more broadly). Many times Hispanic/Latino college students go through their programs without encountering Hispanic/Latino faculty. We need to make sure the faculty feel supported and included so they will not leave higher education.
Dr. Marci McMahon
Claudia Bolaños
Claudia Bolaños
Couldn't agree more. Here at NASA we have several cultural affinity groups/events.
Based on your experience, would STEM cultural affinity efforts (festivals, clubs, etc.) help their Hispanic/Latino faculty feel more included in the long run? And if not, what would you suggest instead?
Dr. Marie Mora
Dr. Marci McMahon
Dr. Marie Mora
Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives
Yes, I would say affinity groups on campus would be helpful, if there is enough of a critical mass. It's one of the reasons I co-launched a new Hispanic/Latino Faculty & Staff Network at the University of Missouri-St. Louis earlier this year. Despite being new, it holds a lot of promise!
Moreover, I am a founding member and former President of the American Society of Hispanic Economists, which is now celebrating its 20th anniversary. When I was President, I worked to secure the official recognition of ASHE by the American Economic Association. This has helped our members feel included in a national network even if they might be the only Hispanic/Latino economist at their institution or organization. We also organize sessions at major annual conferences, among other activities. https://asheweb.org/
Dr. Marci McMahon
Claudia Bolaños
Suzanna Rose
Marie: I really enjoyed the video. Yes we need more Hispanic women in STEM! Thanks for your efforts in this area and within Economics. Suzanna
Dr. Marie Mora
Dr. Marci McMahon
Claudia Bolaños
Dr. Marie Mora
Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives
Thank you so much Suzanna! I also applaud your efforts to broaden participation in STEM, including through your role as Project Director and lead Co-PI on FIU's #NSF_ADVANCE IT project!
Dr. Marci McMahon