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Despite increasing numbers of women completing doctoral degrees in science, there are still relatively few women scientists in academia. Women often face greater career barriers than men, and often experience strong feelings of isolation once in an academic position, leading to slower advancement and poor retention rates despite high productivity. Women scientists with mentors or peer groups experience greater job satisfaction and are more likely to persevere and succeed than those without such support. The Mentoring Program for Women in Science is a formal mentoring network for women with the ultimate goal of helping women faculty succeed and meet their career goals.
We recognize that mentoring is valuable to both men and women. Therefore, we highly recommend that departments participating in the Mentoring Program for Women in Science also implement mentoring for new male faculty. Within a department, mentoring can be applied identically for both men and women; however, women participants will also be linked into the campus-wide Mentoring Program for Women in Science.
Additional Mentoring programs include: support for writing/work groups, a Mentor-of-the-Year Award, and an External Mentor Program to foster mentoring relationships with external leaders in an individual's science field.
- To increase participation and retention of women in science careers
- To facilitate the attainment of individual career goals
- To increase job satisfaction
- To help women prioritize and balance the demands of an academic career
- To create general models for mentoring that will be applicable to all faculty in the sciences
The Mentoring Program for Women in Science and other PACE retention initiatives aim to create and maintain an environment which fosters the growth and development of all members of the academic science community in all their diversity and which allows all members to work to their full potential.
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