The proposed project is an innovative approach to facilitate the advancement of senior women chemistry faculty members at liberal arts institutions to the highest ranks of academic leadership. This project will enhance the leadership, visibility, and recognition of participating faculty members with an effective peer mentoring strategy involving the establishment of five-member horizontal mentoring alliances of senior women chemistry faculty members at liberal arts institutions to engage in discussions and workshops focused on career and leadership development. Cyber-enabled networking of the alliances will augment the peer-support structure and facilitate the sustainability of the alliances. The partnership of four co-principal investigators will facilitate project management.
The proposed horizontal mentoring alliances will directly impact the career development of twenty senior women faculty members at different liberal arts institutions. Ultimately, the career advancement achieved by each faculty member will instill confidence in female students of their future career success in STEM fields and provide paradigms for junior female faculty members to model their own careers. The cyber-facilitated expansion of the network to senior women faculty members in STEM disciplines at the participating institutions will develop a cohort to serve as leaders of institutional change. The project will contribute to the national knowledge base on practices that can enhance the academic career advancement of women in science and engineering through the career development resources generated by each alliance and from a set of recommendations on this peer mentoring approach that will be developed at a concluding summit meeting.
