Exploring Factors Affecting Interest in Chemistry Faculty Careers among Graduate Student Women: Results from a Local Pilot Study

Autor/inn/en	Howe, Morgan E.; Schaffer, Leah V.; Styles, Matthew J.; Pazicni, Samuel
Titel	Exploring Factors Affecting Interest in Chemistry Faculty Careers among Graduate Student Women: Results from a Local Pilot Study
Quelle	In: Journal of Chemical Education, 99 (2022) 1, S.92-103 (12 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Howe, Morgan E.) ORCID (Schaffer, Leah V.) ORCID (Pazicni, Samuel)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0021-9584
DOI	10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00502
Schlagwörter	Vocational Interests; Females; Graduate Students; Chemistry; College Faculty; Disproportionate Representation; Career Choice; Researchers; Family Work Relationship; Self Concept; Wisconsin (Madison) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Berufsinteresse; Weibliches Geschlecht; Graduate Study; Student; Students; Aufbaustudium; Graduiertenstudium; Hauptstudium; Studentin; Chemie; Fakultät; Researcher; Forscher; Selbstkonzept
Abstract	The minoritization of women among the ranks of faculty is well-documented in STEM fields. Prompted by the underrepresentation of women in the ranks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Chemistry faculty and postdoctoral researchers, faculty and graduate student leadership wished to explore the factors that influence the career choices of women in the department, especially regarding faculty positions with research expectations. A survey based on Social Cognitive Career Theory was developed and administered to current graduate students in the department. Responses indicated that women in the department were interested in research positions and identified as researchers but expected faculty positions to be more difficult to balance with a personal life than other careers in chemistry. There was also a perception that positions at primarily undergraduate institutions would be more desirable, less challenging, and more able to accommodate a balance with personal life. Lastly, when comparing women who hold a low interest in faculty positions with women who hold a high interest in faculty positions, most of the significant differences between the two groups fell under two categories. First, the high-interest group held stronger identities as researchers, teachers, and academics. Second, the high-interest group was more confident and expected to feel more positively about five central aspects of faculty positions: research, teaching, mentoring, writing grants, and navigating the tenure process. In contrast to prior work that indicated women's hesitance to enter faculty positions was partly due to childcare and family responsibilities, no meaningful differences were found between the expected difficulty or personal value placed on those responsibilities for the high- and low-interest groups. While further work is necessary to develop an instrument that can support more specific comparisons between groups, this work provides a valuable description of the department in question and several areas that may be of interest in future work. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Division of Chemical Education, Inc. and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01