African-American, Latinx, and Native American scholars are underrepresented in the psychological sciences. The SPARK Society has been created to overcome two of the root causes of this underrepresentation: an insufficient pipeline and a lack of role models. Members of these underrepresented groups who do enter the field also may have reduced access to effective mentorship. The result is that graduate students and junior faculty who are African-American, Latinx, or Native American may be less successful moving through the complex and often obscure academic track. Through satellite conference panels and workshops, online forums, social media outreach, and a state-of-the-art online presence, the SPARK Society will facilitate mentorship and support of scholars from these underrepresented groups. Society goals will be achieved (1) by fostering an environment that welcomes and nurtures junior African-American, Latinx, and Native American scholars, (2) by contributing to the professional development of these scholars throughout their career, (3) by creating a network that will provide contacts and connections to other scholars from underrepresented groups in psychological science, and (4) by implementing an innovative model of mentorship, whereby faculty members of the society will invite and mentor undergraduate students who attend institutions located in the vicinity of conference locations. This novel approach to mentorship brings mentorship to students, instead of students' having to identify mentorship needs independently.
The SPARK Society will establish panel discussions, in-person mentoring sessions, and group networking meetings in the context of existing conferences for psychological scientists. Satellite meetings are planned in association with the Psychonomic Society meeting in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Interaction with universities and colleges located in the vicinity of each conference location will be facilitated through the SPARK Society's Community Fellow. This fellow will travel to conference locations several months in advance to establish procedures and mechanisms by which undergraduate students from underrepresented groups will be identified and invited to participate in the SPARK Society meeting and the meeting of the Psychonomic Society. Undergraduate students will be introduced to the growing network of scholars from underrepresented groups in the psychological sciences and to the nature of research. Invited undergraduate students will be encouraged to participate in general conference activities and to attend mentoring sessions designed to introduce them to the field and potential role models. Senior and junior scholars will network in the context of SPARK meetings to establish long-term mentorship relationships. The SPARK society has been created to provide a much-needed forum for underrepresented minority scholars across all levels (undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral, faculty) to connect with each other and share knowledge.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
