Preparing STEM Graduate Students for Inclusive Leadership

Graduate students nationwide are often highly motivated to transform academic institutions to become more inclusive and to better foster the success of all students. However, graduate students may lack the knowledge and experience to understand how to effectively lead these changes, both in graduate school and at later points in their careers. In particular, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) students do not normally have the opportunity to formally learn these skills. This National Science Foundation Innovations of Graduate Education (IGE) award to the University of Massachusetts Amherst will test a program of inclusive leadership training aimed at providing graduate students with the skills needed to become leaders in fostering institutional change. Results will provide guidance for other institutions for how to better prepare graduate students to develop as effective leaders who emphasize participation, community, and respect across identities without sacrificing their own professional and personal goals.

Two cohorts of graduate student Leadership Fellows will each participate for two years. In Year 1, Fellows will learn about academic leadership through a series of interactive workshops and panel discussions. In particular, they will be introduced to the structure of colleges and universities and how change occurs at different organizational levels. At the end of this year, Fellows are predicted to (1a) demonstrate increased knowledge about inclusive leadership in higher education; and (1b) demonstrate increased confidence in their skills as agents of change across their career stages compared to pre-testing and control groups. In Year 2, Leadership Fellows will work in teams on a Leadership Project led by a mentor. Projects will have measurable outcomes for the growth of the Fellows and for the impact on the institution, as each project has been designed to provide value to UMass Amherst. Fellows will also receive individualized sessions with a professional leadership coach. At the end of Year 2, Fellows are predicted to be able to (2a) describe how the lessons learned in Year 1 impacted both their Leadership Project and their work beyond the project and to apply their knowledge to novel case studies; (2b) demonstrate improved leadership skills through both self-evaluation and assessment by others that know them; and (2c) articulate a plan to continue to create institutional change throughout their careers. An additional prediction is that (2d) the Leadership Projects will have met their goals and provided value to the University. Finally, because the program incorporates many forms of support for the Fellows, Fellows should be able to demonstrate similar or improved measures of wellbeing compared to a control group.

The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to study, pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.

This award reflects NSF’s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation’s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

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