Partnered research experiences for junior faculty at minority-serving institutions enhance professional success

Abstract

Scientific workforce diversity is critical to ensuring the realization of our national research goals and minority-serving institutions play a vital role in preparing undergraduate students for science careers. This paper summarizes the outcomes of supporting career training and research practices by faculty from teaching-intensive, minority-serving institutions. Support of these faculty members is predicted to lead to: 1) increases in the numbers of refereed publications, 2) increases in federal grant funding, and 3) a positive impact on professional activities and curricular practices at their home institutions that support student training. The results presented show increased productivity is evident as early as 1 yr following completion of the program, with participants being more independently productive than their matched peers in key areas that serve as measures of academic success. These outcomes are consistent with the goals of the Visiting Professorship Program to enhance scientific practices impacting undergraduate student training. Furthermore, the outcomes demonstrate the benefits of training support for research activities at minority-serving institutions that can lead to increased engagement of students from diverse backgrounds. The practices and results presented demonstrate a successful generalizable approach for stimulating junior faculty development and can serve as a basis for long-term faculty career development strategies that support scientific workforce diversity.

Figure 1.

Faculty participants in the VP Program. The total number of VP Program participants during each grant-funding period of the program is shown. Thirty-two unique faculty members participated in the program through 2011. Seventeen of these participants completed a second-year VP experience, yielding a total of 49 reported VP experiences. *, For the grant period 2009–2013, participant numbers are given only for 2009–2011.

Figure 2.

Racial and ethnic breakdown of participants of the VP Program. Participants are presented according to the funding periods they were involved in the program and over the life of the program. Faculty members participating in the program more than once are also included. *, For the grant period 2009–2013, participant numbers are given only for 2009–2011.

Figure 3.

Publications by Visiting Professors. The years given correspond to the training period. Publications reported are limited to refereed publications retrieved from PubMed that list the participant's institution at the time of training. *, For the grant period 2009–2013, participant numbers are given only for 2009–2011.

Figure 4.

Academic promotion of past participants of the VP Program. Tenure-eligible faculty members who participated in the VP Program self-reported on their tenure status following completion of the program; self-reported are summarized here. The period listed corresponds to the training period of each participant.

Figure 5.

The working model for junior faculty career development includes practice, gains, and outcomes. The model highlights the expected gains of program participants en route to reaching the desired program outcomes, which contribute to career successes. “Gains” represent short-term VP Program–derived achievements and “Outcomes” represent long-term accomplishments of participants. Closed (black) arrows illustrate the strongest “nearest-neighbor” relationship between gains of participants in the program.