Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have released the results of an experiment, which suggests that an online mutual-mentoring model called “Amplifying Voices” can create “trusting and supportive environments” among minority women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
Details were published online by the journal Innovative Higher Education.
A professor of veterinary and animal sciences, Sandra Petersen (left), and co-authors Barbara Pearson (center) a retired professor from the Office of Research Development, with Mary Moriarty (left) of Research and Evaluation Associates, point out that minority women make up nearly 18% of the population, but only 3% of STEM tenure-track faculty members in four-year colleges and universities.
To investigate the effectiveness of the Amplifying Voices approach, the researchers adapted the in-person mutual-mentoring model from the book,“Every Other Thursday” by Ellen Daniell.
For the two-year study, lead author Petersen and her colleagues recruited four groups of five to seven women from 20 different institutions that collaborate in the Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, a National Science Foundation program to diversify STEM Ph.D. programs and the professoriate.
Groups included 16 African Americans, one Asian, five Hispanics or Latinas, one American Indian, and one White.
Each group selected a facilitator for the 60- to 90-minute every-other-week Zoom meetings. An anonymous eight-question pre-survey and the same post-survey 14 months later was used to assess changes in support level and effectiveness of the process.
“Our research suggests that combining career-focused mentoring found in most academic institutions with empathetic psycho-social mentoring achieved through Amplifying Voices is a more effective strategy for supporting underrepresented minority women in STEM than either strategy alone,” said Petersen in the statement.
Mentoring is the most commonly cited intervention to help faculty achieve success in higher education, and is especially important for those from underrepresented groups. However, they are less likely to receive effective mentoring, Petersen and colleagues add.
Participants also indicated that groups made up of mostly underrepresented racial/ethnic groups created an environment where people understood stereotype threat and implicit bias without having to educate colleagues about these issues.
Facilitators also said their groups worked because “they understood each other’s struggles,” they “felt relieved to know that they were not alone,” and “often came to new insights by sharing professional experiences, achievements and challenges.”
