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ATHENA (Advancement Through Healthy Empowerment, Networking, and Awareness) ADVANCE | University of Louisville

Presenter

Dr. Sarah M. Ovink

Associate Professor of Sociology

Virginia Tech

Abstract

Interactions with faculty and industry partners are an important aspect of students’ college experiences. However, students’ and faculty's ability to form strong relationships may be influenced by factors outside their control—such as their race/ethnicity, gender, family income, and amount of college and career “savvy.” Interviews and focus groups with a diverse sample of students at a STEM-focused university reveal that students view different facets of their identities as carrying "costs" and "benefits," depending on the domain they're working in, and this affects their sense of belonging in science, as well as satisfaction with the university. For example, many black women view their identity as a "benefit" in terms of standing out in science or having access to targeted mentoring, but as a "cost" when it comes to making networking connections important to personal wellbeing and employment connections. These costs and benefits are echoed in faculty experiences, particularly those of BIPOC women in STEM fields. To improve the still-leaky science and technology pipeline, particularly among historically underrepresented populations, universities can and should do more to solve the remaining barriers.

Bio

Sarah M. Ovink is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Virginia Tech. Her research focuses primarily on inequalities in higher education pathways by race/ethnicity, gender, and income, using mixed methods of inquiry. Her publications have appeared in a variety of journals, including Gender & Society, Social Currents, and Research in Higher Education. She is a co-editor of the recently released volume, Intersectionality and Higher Education: Identity and Inequality on College Campuses (2019, Rutgers University Press). She is the author of Race, Class and Choice in Latino/a Higher Education: Pathways in the College-for-All Era (2017, Palgrave Macmillan). She is the recipient of a 2015 NSF CAREER award, investigating intersectional inequalities in STEM and non-STEM undergraduate pathways. From 2016–2020, she was a co-PI of the Life Sciences Mentoring Program, which matched incoming life sciences majors with near-peer mentors to provide mentoring training. Dr. Ovink received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology at Kalamazoo College, and her Master of Arts and Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Davis. She lives in Blacksburg, VA with her husband Eric, two kids, and two dogs.

About ATHENA

Advancement Through Healthy Empowerment, Networking, and Awareness (ATHENA) will adapt proven interventions from other institutional ADVANCE programs to improve the professional standing and career opportunities for women STEM faculty at the University of Louisville (UofL). The goal of the ATHENA project is to counter the identified problems through adaptation of interventions from ADVANCE programs that have been shown to be effective. We will adapt these interventions for our STEM faculty, with the goal of working to permanently implement these practices to produce systemic and permanent change throughout the University. To learn more, visit our website.

This event is co-sponsored by ATHENA and UofL Faculty Affairs.

ATHENA Keynote: Intersectionality in STEM by Dr. Sarah M. Ovink