Diversity Program Helps Postdocs Prepare for Interviews
A new program is harnessing the power of the Cottrell Scholar network to enhance faculty diversity in the physical sciences at both research-intensive universities and primarily undergraduate institutions.
The Cottrell Emerging Scholars Program received one of four $25,000 Cottrell Scholar Collaborative awards from RCSA in 2019. Project lead is CS 2006 Keivan Stassun of Vanderbilt University, collaborating with CS 2006 Darren Johnson of the University of Oregon, CS 2006 Adam Leibovich of the University of Pittsburgh, and CS 2018 Grace Stokes of Santa Clara University. The four Cottrell Scholars form the steering committee for the project, providing overall direction for its development and implementation.
“The program leverages the uniqueness of the Cottrell Scholar network, which is now large and broadly distributed across the country and among different types of institutions, to help ensure that the transition into the faculty of people who have been traditionally underrepresented in the physical sciences will be more seamless,” said Stassun.
The program provides funds for current postdocs to visit another institution for a mock faculty job interview — including meetings with faculty and administrators, and presentation of a seminar — followed by structured feedback. Postdocs and hosts are matched according to areas of interest, institutional type, and likelihood of a faculty job opening within the next 1-2 years for which the postdoc may be a strong recruit.
“Simulating the real experience of a faculty job interview is a key professional development opportunity for these postdocs,” said Stassun. “It also serves as a recruitment opportunity for institutions to identify potential future faculty from underrepresented groups who may be very well-matched to their research interests and departments.”
The process begins with parallel and independent applications – one from the postdoc, another from the potential host institution. The program makes the match and has created a template for a structured visit that includes the typical meetings and seminars that usually comprise a one- or two-day faculty job interview.
Funds from the RCSA grant cover travel, a stipend for the postdoc, and childcare if needed. So far, participants have been nominated and visits have been hosted by the institutions of Cottrell Scholars only.
Two postdocs made in-person visits before the COVID-19 pandemic cut off travel in the spring, said Julie Vernon, Cottrell Emerging Scholars Program coordinator and Interim Associate Dean of Academic Success in the School of Engineering at Vanderbilt. Both postdocs have now accepted university positions for 2021.
“So far, all visits have been within the Cottrell Scholars network,” Vernon said. “The host institutions really stepped up once we invited them to apply.”
A year into the two-year pilot initiative, more than 25 institutions including both research-intensive universities and primarily undergraduate institutions are now signed up to host visits in 2021, and more than a dozen postdocs have applied. “Being virtual has not just reduced expenses to a minimum but also made things easier to schedule,” Vernon said.
The biggest challenge so far has been to encourage postdocs to apply for a visit early enough to make effective use of the feedback they receive before they begin applying for positions in earnest, Vernon said.
“Many of the postdocs worry they aren’t ready,” she said. “We have to convince them it’s just a seminar to get the discussion going and to generate feedback so they know what to work on to be most competitive on the faculty job market.”
She said the hands-on experience provides helpful feedback. “Questions come up they haven’t thought about or that they don’t usually discuss with their direct mentors,” she said. “That really helps them to start working on those answers.”
The Emerging Scholars Program is not Stassun's first RCSA-supported effort to increase diversity. RCSA helped launch the Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program through Stassun’s Cottrell Scholar Award. Now widely replicated at other universities, the program has changed the way science doctoral programs at research institutions support underrepresented minority students.
“Leveraging the now very large national network of Cottrell Scholars and the institutions where we work gives us a ready-made network and a large number of opportunities to increase inclusive excellence at the faculty level,” Stassun said. “We believe that the Cottrell Scholar national network can be a powerful force for change.”
