As GCC members seek to advance DEI goals and values in their interventions for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, we offer a  framework that can help improve efficacy and expose potential blind spots in the interventions.

This 3-part framework involves the intrapersonal,  interpersonal, and systemic facets of professional development from a DEI perspective. Intrapersonal interventions ask participants to consider “who am I?” to increase self-awareness, while interpersonal interventions ask “who are we?” to enhance relationships. Among these three, systemic interventions are the most challenging because they ask, “what’s the culture?” and involve aspects that are often opaque, complex, and even contradictory. These interventions address cultural norms (explicit and implicit), institutional structures and inequities, and competing subcultures. Examples of systemic aspects include Ebony McGee’s study on revealing the racism in impostorism, Tapia-Fuselier and Irwin’s interrogation of StrengthsQuest, and Jordan Starck’s work on how diversity rationales impact student outcomes. The facilitators will lead interactive activities for attendees to apply the framework and align their own interventions according to the appropriate mode in this framework, focusing on developing systemic approaches to address systemic aspects.

Learning outcomes:

• to consider a 3-part framework for professional development interventions around intrapersonal, interpersonal, and systemic facets
• to help participants focus on systemic facets by naming systems that impact the professional development of grad students and postdocs
• to help participants align modes of interventions with the appropriate facet in the framework

 
Equitable, inclusive, and accessible design and practices

• multiple modes of interaction will be facilitated, to engage with different learning styles, and to amplify perspectives that have historically been marginalized
• attendees will be encouraged to consider their brave space, to grapple with dissonance between past and new ideas, and to have the vulnerability to share with others as they’re learning

Speaker Biography

Steve Lee is the Assistant Dean of Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University. In this role, he leads efforts in the area of student inclusion, diversity, and equity through recruiting, retaining, and supporting a diverse student body, particularly at the graduate student level.  He also serves with CIMER (Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research) as a facilitator to provide trainings for mentors and mentees, and served in an NIH review committee for TWD (Training, Workforce Development, and Diversity) programs for four years.  Previously, Steve was the Graduate Diversity Officer for the STEM disciplines at UC Davis, the assistant director for a graduate diversity program at Northwestern University, and on the faculty at Roosevelt University and Wheaton College. He earned a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and BS in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University.

Joseph Brown is the Assistant Dean of Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity Education and Graduate Recruitment at Stanford University’s School of Humanities and Sciences. Joseph is a first-gen college graduate and Army brat from San Antonio, Texas. His BS in Physics is from Southwest Texas State University and his Sc.M. in Bioengineering is from Brown University. He is a PhD alum of Stanford’s psychology program, where his research focused on the impact of stereotypes and prejudice on the intellectual identities and performance of minorities and women. In his free time, he enjoys reading, arguing about TV shows and movies, and practicing Chinese martial arts.

Laura Schram is the Director for Professional Development and Engagement at University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School, where her team provides support for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to develop the skills necessary to succeed at Michigan and beyond as they transition into their careers. In addition to overseeing Rackham’s professional development curriculum and program evaluation efforts, she teaches a Designing Your Life mini-course for graduate students and supports the work of Rackham’s Professional Development DEI Certificate. Prior to coming to Rackham, Laura was Assistant Director at the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching for five years, where she coordinated graduate student professional development programs and coached instructors. She is a certified intercultural development and executive coach. Laura earned her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan.