9453754 Tooney The Association for women in Science (AWIS) recently completed (1993) a three-year, mentoring project with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The program which included one-on-one mentoring, small group discussion meetings, large workshops with prominent speakers, scientific poster sessions, laboratory experience, and exposure to scientific conferences, was designed to encourage and retain undergraduate and graduate women in the sciences. The project has been an outstanding success, with a deluge of requests from institutions of higher education and professional societies on information for implementing a mentoring program, and the publications from the program receiving excellent reviews. AWIS proposes to use the Sloan project as a foundation to implement community-based mentoring programs at ten sites nationwide. The sites were selected based on geographic, ethnic and racial considerations, as well as recognition of rural and urban environments. Based on the research from the Sloan project, this program will focus on the top five topics selected by undergraduate and graduate students as being the most important: career opportunities and options; selection of academic course work; research opportunities; professional contacts and networking; self- image and self-confidence; and balancing work and family. In addition, the mentoring will occur in small groups, facilitating peer mentoring as well as student to mentor interaction. At each of the selected sites a minimum of three scientific organizations, such as the American Chemical Society and the Society of Women Engineers, have agreed to work with their local chapters to implement this mentoring program. The community-based program allows for a greater opportunity to institutionalize mentoring programs within each local chapter, as well as facilitate further programs in each scientific society. At present eight societies have expressed an interest in participating as well as dissemina ting the materials, including a summary document with information on developing mentoring programs. AWIS, through the Sloan project, has: extensive knowledge of strategies to implement in mentoring programs; evaluation and assessment tolls field-tested in the Sloan project; and a cadre of women scientists experienced as mentors. ***
