The ESA-Student Section's Committee on Women and Minorities would like to invite you to participate in the following workshop at the annual meeting next week in Portland:
WK 26- Halting Attrition: Mentoring and Retention of Women and Minority Students, on Tues Aug 7 11:30-1:15 --- Currently 26% of the members of the ESA Student Section are self-declared minorities, and over 60% are women. However, ESA membership as a whole is only 13% minorities and 39% women. This workshop will focus on specific strategies that women and minority ecologists use to succeed in hopes of fostering the retention of these groups. A diverse panel of ecologists from academia, government, and industry will share their experiences as a mentor and strategies they have used to structure their own support networks. Specifically, the panel will share how they have encouraged participation of under-represented students in ecology. The discussion will focus on two themes: Becoming a Mentor/Finding a Mentor: strategies for effective mentoring of women and minorities in your institution, and the importance of identifying a mentor of your own. Keys to Success: strategies for women and minorities navigating the career ladder in academia, industry, and government. The ultimate goal of this workshop is to share strategies for career success and discuss the importance of mentorship for stemming attrition. A final product from this workshop will be a contributed review of the proceedings in Frontiers in Ecology & the Environment. Additionally, we will be gathering input and recommendations for the new ESA mentoring network. Participants should plant to bring their own lunch. We are hoping to gather a list of comments & questions ahead of time to help us get a sense of the issues that are on the minds of students/early career professionals today, and to help us jump- start the discussion with our panelists. While this workshop is geared particularly toward students, we welcome the participation of more senior ecologists who would like to share their own experiences with mentorship. Even if you cannot attend the workshop, please feel free to share your questions or experiences with us! Email [email protected] or [email protected]. Thank you for your assistance. ------------- Ginger R.H. Allington [email protected]
