Below we highlight published items of interest to current/future postdocs and other PhD professionals. We are especially interested in drawing attention to policy issues, minority postdocs, and national/regional postdoc diversity affinity groups. For busy PhD professionals, we will scan the diversity literature and news outlets.
We have been conducting an analysis to understand why NIH has failed to recruit, retain, and promote women and minority investigators...we have [publicized] tenure-track investigator recruitments at diversity-focused science Web sites such as www.MinorityPostdoc.org
...the study found that minority faculty members are less likely to land full professorships, less likely to win tenure, and less likely to work at research universities with very high research activity, or RUVHs, in relation to non-minority faculty.
Results from a world-wide survey comparing postdoc versus supervisor opinions on the twelve attributes to having a successful postdoc experience. An interesting observation is that female supervisors spend more time mentoring postdocs than male supervisors.
...45.4% of female science faculty and 24.5% of male science faculty have fewer kids than they desired, because of their careers, study finds.
...the ARC [Applied Research Center] report uncovered a disturbing fact. The people who are most inclined to speak out on the subject of racial diversity are those who hold the most negative opinions.
Women in STEM faculty positions at community colleges are happy, and it's not because their jobs are somehow easier than those at four-year institutions...While many women in science at four-year institutions have lists of grievances, Anderson said that isn't the case at community colleges.
...the diversity-officers' group has put in place a number of ideas its members have suggested. For one thing, it has created a pipeline of diverse candidates for liberal-arts faculty positions.
...institutions have developed policies to create innovative postdoctoral programs specifically for cultivating the next generation of faculty members of color...Institutions should develop similar post-doctoral programs to encourage faculty members of color, especially Latino members, to develop as scholars, establish a research agenda, and eventually transition into tenure-track faculty positions.
Shirley Malcom and Lindsey Malcom [mother & daughter, respectively] speak to the history and current status of women of color in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields...they connect the past and the present regarding the pathways used by minority women entering STEM, their patterns of advancement, and shifting paradigms on how best to support women of color in these fields.
...some people are hostile to the concept of accommodations being made for academic couples. In [this article], arranged from A to Z, I have tried to reflect the agony, the ecstasy, and the anger surrounding the issue of dual-career couples in academe.