Browsing by Author "Brinkworth, Carolyn"

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    Creating and Connecting Champions for Diversity in the Geosciences: Hearts of GOLD
    Dixon, P. Grady; Quardokus Fisher, Kathleen; Myles, LaToya; Brinkworth, Carolyn; Kaufman, Eric K.; Simmons, Denise R. (American Meteorological Society, 2019-01-08)
    Improving diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the geosciences requires a multi-level effort that builds knowledge and skills across the community at various stages of career development and progression. The Hearts of GOLD effort (GOLD: Geo Opportunities for Leadership in Diversity) focuses on professional-development for established scientific leaders in the geosciences, to give them the content knowledge, tools, and skills needed to become champions of change for DEI. By targeting scientists who are actively engaged and well-respected in the field, the project seeks to connect and expand the cohort of diversity champions who have power to make significant cultural shifts in their institutions, professional organizations, and across the geosciences community. Through professional development sessions called “GOLD Institutes,” participants engaged in facilitated sessions led by the Knapsack Institute. The GOLD Institutes were completed in July 2017 and July 2018 and hosted a total of 38 participants representing 27 institutions or organizations. Participants were nominated by colleagues, directors or deans, past students or mentees, or by themselves. Additionally, some participants were nominated by alumni of the 2016 NSF GOLD Ideas Lab, where the Hearts of GOLD effort was initially proposed. Results of the GOLD Institutes are currently being analyzed to determine the effects of the methods, and numerous experiences and insights will be shared to advance DEI strategies in the geosciences.
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    Developing scientists as champions of diversity to transform the geosciences
    Quardokus Fisher, Kathleen; Kaufman, Eric K.; Calagna, Oriana; Myles, LaToya; Brinkworth, Carolyn; Simmons, Denise R.; Dixon, P. Grady (2019-06-13)
    To address complex geoscience questions, communities with a variety of experiences and perspectives are needed in local workplaces and institutions across academia and government. To achieve this goal, geoscience needs leaders who are champions of diversity and who have positive attitudes toward others and act upon these attitudes to become change agents in advancing diversity and creating inclusive environments. We established a professional development workshop, Geo Opportunities for Leadership in Diversity (GOLD) Institutes, to provide geoscience leaders with the tools and skills necessary to be self-reflective of their own ideas and to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in their respective institutions. Our objective was to equip senior geoscientists, who are at the core of local communities of practice (CoPs), with knowledge of diversity, equity, and inclusion theories and practices to lead change across the discipline. In this preliminary report, we investigate institute participants’ perceptions of allophilia (love of the other) and identify actions taken by senior geoscientists to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within local CoPs. Results indicate that senior geoscientists who participated in the institute had high scores on the allophilia scale and took steps to integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion into their day-to-day activities, and in a few cases created new workplace support structures for diversity and inclusion. Future work will build on these results by refining professional development opportunities that target the needs of geoscience champions of diversity.
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    Geo Opportunity for Leadership in Diversity (GOLD): Hearts of gold
    Myles, LaToya; Brinkworth, Carolyn; Dixon, P. Grady; Kaufman, Eric K.; Quardokus Fisher, Kathleen; Simmons, Denise R. (The Geological Society Of America, 2017-10-24)
    Geosciences currently trails other STEM fields in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented groups. However, we are testing a new professional-development program for established scientific leaders in the geosciences, to give them the content knowledge, tools, and skills needed to become champions of change for diversity. By targeting senior scientists who are already well-respected in the field, our project capitalizes on their reputations, networks, and social capital to build them into diversity champions with the power to make significant cultural change in their institutions and the wider field. The professional-learning sessions are called “GOLD Institutes,” where GOLD is an abbreviation for Geo Opportunities for Leadership in Diversity. These GOLD Institutes occur in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and are led by diversity-training experts from the Knapsack Institute. The first GOLD Institute was completed in July 2017 and hosted 25 participants. The second is scheduled for July 2018, and we anticipate a similar cohort, but a few will be repeat participants who will act as “mentors.” The 2017 participants included nominees who were recognized for their potential by peers, past students (mentees), and/or participants of the 2016 NSF GOLD Ideas Lab. Results of the GOLD Institute are currently being analyzed to determine the effects of the methods, but there are already positive insights gained from the experience of seeing who was nominated and the surprisingly high rate at which invitations were accepted. This presentation will act as a preliminary explanation of successes and setbacks with this effort.