SEEDS at the University of Miami

SEEDS Steering Committee Su Sponaugle, Jackie Dixon, Maria Diaz (SEEDS Distinguished Lecturer) Kathryn Tosney, Rana Fine and program manager Natasha Jobbagy, not shown Mary Lou King, Sherri Keitz

SEEDS: Programs Climate Survey Networking meetings combining all three campuses Career Workshops “You Choose” leadership awards Distinguished Scholar Lectureships “Working from within” to transform departments SEEDS Interactive Theatre Mentoring

SEEDS: Multiple Mentoring Modes Networking Meeting Women from all three campuses meet each year Focus Groups Focus groups are a tool to build community and peer mentoring SEEDS Distinguished Lecturers Outstanding researchers give both science and mentoring talks and interact with selected mentees Sponsored Mentors Assures both formal and informal mentoring interactions with speakers selected by other units Speed Mentoring Fosters intense, one-on-one interactions with multiple faculty

SEEDS: Networking meeting Inaugural SEEDS meeting: Lunch with the Prez People were assigned to tables by school: surprisingly, several had not met one another before. Thereafter, some groups began meeting regularly. Each table also received a topic for discussion. President Donna Shalala talked about the National Academy report that she chaired, Beyond Bias and Barriers, and UM’s commitment to the new SEEDS program.

SEEDS: Focus Groups Monthly meetings of women at each school to plan and solve problems: these groups are themselves a tool to build community Meet with SEEDS interactive theatre group to describe their school’s culture and issues. The troupe is preparing sketches on issues, e.g., ‘The Third Year Review’ Plan SEEDS events, such as speed mentoring Plan group grant proposals Discuss who to invite for their annual SEEDS Distinguished Lecturer

SEEDS: Sponsored Mentors Dr. Susan L. Lindquist, member of the National Academy of Sciences, was invited for an annual named research lecture in the medical school. SEEDS cosponsored her seminar called Yes We Can! A Woman’s Perspective on a Life in Science and an evening mentoring event. She attended an evening dinner with selected junior faculty from all three campuses After dinner she answered questions submitted beforehand and chosen by the organizers.

SEEDS: Sponsored Mentors The Annual Gifford Arboretum Lecturer, Dr. Lúcia Lohmann from the Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil, was cosponsored by SEEDS to lead a discussion on Building Leadership in Plant Conservation. The attendees included faculty, graduate students and community leaders in plant conservation

SEEDS: Speed Mentoring Speed mentoring events provide intense interactions on a crucial career issue, and also let people judge who may best fit them as a mentor. And it’s such great fun that its become VIRAL!

SEEDS: Speed Mentoring Speed mentoring resembles speed dating Faculty are arrayed in a room. Depending on the venue, students, postdocs, or junior faculty go from faculty to faculty and offer a short document such as a CV or a specific aims page as a focus for discussion. Each interaction lasts five to eight minutes before a bell sounds. Mentees get two to three minutes to write down their impressions. A buzzer keys mentees to move to the next mentor. After the event, participants socialize, generally over food, to decompress and assess the event.

SEEDS: Speed Mentoring Two events: #1 Marine Campus n = 18 #2 Medical Campus n = 22 #1 Mentors #1 Mentees Grad students #2 Mentors #2 Mentees Junior faculty The 5 minute time was sufficient78%56%n/a The 8 minute time was sufficientn/a 91% Received useful feedbackn/a100%n/a100% Would recommend to colleagues100% 91%100% Noon was a good time for the event100%90%100%91% Identified who might be a good mentor for you n/a78%n/a83%

SEEDS: Speed Mentoring Documents Mentors reviewed short CVs statements of interests statements of purpose teaching philosophy For many, the document was only the initial trigger for the interaction, not its main topic. Mentors also suggested Short research statements cover letter five year plan specific aims page

SEEDS: Speed Mentoring Participant comments regarding a five-minute time five minutes was good for asking about concrete strategies for specific interviews assessing overall CVs and advising on both content and format five minutes was not substantial enough to objectively evaluate full CVs or statements It is essential to have 2-3 minutes between each mentor to record impressions.

SEEDS: Speed Mentoring Was the event with graduate students useful to faculty? Yes learned what guidance students need good to see what info students have and are missing good for networking more useful than expected Recurring themes identified by mentors students who never heard of NSF or NIH unaware of format for a CV unaware of how to seek a job naive students

SEEDS: Multiple Mentoring Modes Multiple venues Mentoring is clearly an asset to career advancement as it helps women and other underrepresented minorities obtain important career information that men receive in informal networks that exclude women (e.g., Rosser 2004). SEEDS mentoring addresses career, gender and underrepresented minority issues by combining local and exterior mentoring in a variety of forms. We feel that having such an expanded mentoring system, across the differences of department, school, research area, country and even gender and race, is teaching us about one another and is expanding our resources and our horizons. Rosser SV (2004) The Science Glass Ceiling, New York: Routledge