Transforming STEM Career Pathways: Examining a Multigenerational Mentorship Environment to Support Persistence of Women of Color Pursuing STEM Education at Community Colleges

This project aims to serve the national interest by increasing the success of women of color (Black/African American, Latina, Asian American, and Indigenous women) who are pursuing STEM education at two-year institutions. Women remain significantly underrepresented in many STEM fields and in the educational pathways that lead into those fields. This situation has been attributed to gender-based experiences that result in feelings of invisibility and isolation. Such experiences tend to be exacerbated for women who hold other marginalized identities, such as social class, citizenship, age, and race. Yet, most efforts designed to broaden STEM participation try to advance student persistence by targeting singular marginalized identities. Researchers have cited the importance of developing a dual race- and gender-based social network to increase student success. The importance of an intersectional approach is even greater because of the COVID-19 pandemic's impacts on women of color. In addition to managing their own education in an online format, many women of color have major responsibilities in maintaining their families' health and survival during the pandemic. These efforts often require managing food, financial, and housing insecurity while navigating complex, disjointed support systems. Advancing STEM participation of women of color requires the creation of spaces that holistically support the complex interplay of their intersecting identities. In these "counterspaces," women of color can develop asset-based narratives and the mindset and skills needed to thrive academically and psychologically. This project will examine the effectiveness of a culturally responsive counterspace that features multigenerational mentorship and is focused on wellbeing and thriving. It is expected that this counterspace will promote the persistence of women of color in their pursuit of STEM education.

The project will evaluate the effectiveness of a program designed to address the psychological and emotional challenges that women of color experience in pursuing STEM careers. Project goals include include applying the model of counterspaces and multigenerational mentoring to women of color in community college and understanding the ways in which an explicit focus on STEM identity development and psychosocial wellbeing may affect STEM persistence among women of color at community colleges. To achieve these goals, the project team will conduct a multi-methodological research study and a program evaluation comprised of both process and outcome evaluation components. This study will add to the understanding of counterspaces, including the specific features of counterspaces that support STEM identity development of women of color at community colleges. The study expects to identify the ways in which activities that employ multigenerational mentorship can promote feelings of belonging, emergent STEM identities, and STEM persistence of women of color at the community college. The research will expand understanding of the factors that inform the decision-making processes of Black/African American, Latina, Asian American, and Indigenous women in community colleges who complete a two-year program and enter the STEM workforce or transfer into a four-year STEM program, or do not persist in STEM. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.

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.