ISSUES FOR UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS

Iris Bahar

Associate Professor, Brown University

DAC Young Faculty Workshop --- July 27, 2009

Disclaimer

Many of the issues I mention are not necessarily specific to underrepresented groups

These are somewhat universal issues, but may have special relevance to these groups

Also, my views are somewhat biased by my own experiences and “grouping” Your mileage may vary…

Evaluating Your Success

We are our harshest critics To be good, we have to be better

than others outside our group Both men and women consistently

overrate men and underrate women in job qualifications

Isolation

It’s hard to be the only women/minority in your research group

Hard to relate to others Hard for others to relate to you Feelings that you may be judged differently

than others Implicit bias: People are most comfortable

with people who think and look like themselves

Other “Barriers” to Entering Academia

Women: The biological clock vs. the tenure clock

Productivity may plummet when you can least afford it

Balancing work and family duties Financial pressures

Do you have to do a postdoc before entering academia?

Industry usually pays more (at least initially) Geographic constraints

Improving Your Environment Find a mentor

Your department head may help you find one

May be useful to have more than one Be a mentor

Being a role model to others in your minority group can be personally very rewarding

Get involved in extracurricular hobbies/organizations

Improving Your Environment (cont.) Join a peer group

Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers

Non-tenured women in physical science Reduces isolation, increases networking

Improving Your Environment (cont.) Avoid “negative role models”

Not everyone needs to be singly obsessed about his/her work to be a successful academic

Seek out help at the University level Is your university an NSF ADVANCE

institution? ADVANCE: develop systemic approaches to

increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)