College of Letters & Science
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/37
The College of Letters and Science, the largest center for learning, teaching and research at Montana State University, offers students an excellent liberal arts and sciences education in nearly 50 majors, 25 minors and over 25 graduate degrees within the four areas of the humanities, natural sciences, mathematics and social sciences.
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Item Absent autonomy: Relational competence and gendered paths to faculty self-determination in the promotion and tenure process(2018-09) Skewes, Monica C.; Shanahan, Elizabeth A.; Smith, Jessi L.; Honea, Joy C.; Belou, Rebecca M.; Rushing, Sara; Intemann, Kristen; Handley, Ian M.This research examines ways in which men and women university faculty sought self-determination in the promotion and tenure (P&T) process. Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2012) research tends to view autonomy as the central factor in self-determination, taking priority over other psychological needs of relatedness and competence. The P&T process occurs within a context that inherently limits autonomy, providing a unique opportunity to examine experiences of relatedness and competence when autonomy is constrained. We used a qualitative research strategy with a matched case study design to explore how individuals experience the constructs of SDT (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness) within the P&T process. Our project focuses on faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) departments undergoing P&T review at one university. Women faculty in STEM were compared with men faculty at the same rank and in similar departments concurrently going through P&T review. Findings showed that men reported experiencing self-determination via informational competence whereas women approached self-determination through relational competence. Creating a level playing field for faculty navigating the P&T process requires being attuned to different paths to self-determination, fostering relationships between faculty, and clarifying policies and procedures.Item Grant-Writing Bootcamp: An Intervention to Enhance the Research Capacity of Academic Women in STEM(2017-06) Smith, Jessi L.; Stoop, Chatanika; Young, Michaela; Belou, Rebecca M.; Held, SuzanneBroadening the participation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) fields is more than a social-justice issue; diversity is paramount to a thriving national research agenda. However, women face several obstacles to fully actualizing their research potential. Enhancing the research capacity and opportunity of women faculty requires purposeful changes in university practice. Therefore, we designed an intervention, a grant-writing bootcamp informed by self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan 2012), to support the participants\' feelings of relatedness, autonomy, and competence. Three grant-writing bootcamps were run over an 18-month period. Using a pre-and post-test design over the span of 1 year (and contrasting results with a comparison sample who were not part of the intervention) showed that the women participating in the grant-writing bootcamp significantly increased the number of external grants submitted, the number of proposals led as principal investigator, the number of external grants awarded, and the amount of external funding dollars awarded.Item Research Microcultures as Socialization Contexts for Underrepresented Science Students(2017-05) Thoman, Dustin B.; Muragishi, Gregg A.; Smith, Jessi L.How much does scientific research potentially help people? We tested whether prosocial-affordance beliefs (PABs) about science spread among group members and contribute to individual students\' motivation for science. We tested this question within the context of research experience for undergraduates working in faculty-led laboratories, focusing on students who belong to underrepresented minority (URM) groups. Longitudinal survey data were collected from 522 research assistants in 41 labs at six institutions. We used multilevel modeling, and results supported a socialization effect for URM students: The aggregate PABs of their lab mates predicted the students' own initial PABs, as well as their subsequent experiences of interest and their motivation to pursue a career in science, even after controlling for individual-level PABs. Results demonstrate that research labs serve as microcultures of information about the science norms and values that influence motivation. URM students are particularly sensitive to this information. Efforts to broaden participation should be informed by an understanding of the group processes that convey such prosocial values.Item ADVANCE Project TRACS Charrette Posters 2013(2013) Smith, Jessi L.; Rushing, SaraThese posters, presented in 2013, show data on recruiting new female faculty hires, job satisfaction, baseline indicators, and opinions on existing programs.Item ADVANCE Project TRACS Charrette Posters 2014(2014-04) Smith, Jessi L.; Burroughs, Beth; Handley, Ian M.; Stoop, ChatanikaThese posters, presented in 2014, show data on recruiting new female faculty hires, job satisfaction, baseline indicators, and opinions on existing programs.Item ADVANCE Project TRACS Charrette Posters 2015(2015) Smith, Jessi L.; Handley, Ian M.; Honea, Joy; Shanahan, Elizabeth A.; Skewes, Monica C.; Belou, Rebecca M.These posters, presented in 2015, show data on recruiting new female faculty hires, job satisfaction, baseline indicators, and opinions on existing programs.Item A Multi-Million Dollar Opportunity: How Social Psychology Can ADVANCE the Participation of Women Faculty in STEM(Society for Personality and Social Psychology, 2014-08) Smith, Jessi L.NSF ADVANCE-IT grants are multimillion dollar, 5 year, cooperative agreements aimed at creating, sustaining, and studying ways to broaden the participation of women faculty in STEM. Social psychological science has much to offer in methodological and theoretical tools to design, measure, test, analyze, and interpret the impact of cultural transformation on the recruitment and retention of women faculty, as well as the benefits of enhancing faculty diversity. This is why this summer I organized a symposium on Using Social Psychological Science to ADVANCE the Participation of Women STEM Faculty at the 2014 meeting of the Association of Psychological Science. I wanted to inspire others to get involved, not just as consultants, but also as PIs and Co-PIs who can break new theoretical and applied ground within social psychology to study – and help solve – this incredibly important and persistent problem.Item Now Hiring! Empirically Testing a Three-Step Intervention to Increase Faculty Gender Diversity in STEM(2015-11) Smith, Jessi L.; Handley, Ian M.; Zale, Alexander V.; Rushing, Sara; Potvin, Martha A.Workforce homogeneity limits creativity, discovery, and job satisfaction; nonetheless, the vast majority of university faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are men. We conducted a randomized and controlled three-step faculty search intervention based in self-determination theory aimed at increasing the number of women faculty in STEM at one US university where increasing diversity had historically proved elusive. Results show that the numbers of women candidates considered for and offered tenure-track positions were significantly higher in the intervention groups compared with those in controls. Searches in the intervention were 6.3 times more likely to make an offer to a woman candidate, and women who were made an offer were 5.8 times more likely to accept the offer from an intervention search. Although the focus was on increasing women faculty within STEM, the intervention can be adapted to other scientific and academic communities to advance diversity along any dimension.Item Losing its expected communal value: how stereotype threat undermines women's identity as research scientists(2015-04) Smith, Jessi L.; Brown, Elizabeth R.; Thoman, Dustin B.; Deemer, Eric D.The worry or concern over confirming negative gender group stereotypes, called stereotype threat, is one explanation for women's worldwide underrepresentation in undergraduate science classes and majors. But how does stereotype threat translate into fewer women motivated for science? In this quantitative study with a sample from the US, we use Expectancy Value Theory to examine whether and how stereotype threat concerns might influence women's science identification. To do this, we collected survey data from 388 women enrolled in introductory physics (male-dominated) and biology (female-dominated) undergraduate laboratory classes at three universities. We examined multiple indirect effect paths through which stereotype threat could be associated with science identity and the associated future motivation to engage in scientific research. In addition to replicating established expectancy-value theory motivational findings, results support the novel prediction that one route through which stereotype threat negatively impacts women’s science identity is via effects on perceptions about the communal utility value of science. Especially among women in physics who expressed greater stereotype threat concerns than women in biology, science identification was lower to the extent that stereotype threat reduced how useful science was seen for helping other people and society. Implications for ways to create an inclusive learning context that combats stereotype threat concerns and broadens undergraduate women's participation in science are discussed.Item The Role of Altruistic Values in Motivating Underrepresented Minority Students for Biomedicine(2015-02) Thoman, Dustin B.; Brown, Elizabeth R.; Mason, Andrew; Harmsen, Allen; Smith, Jessi L.Understanding how cultural values influence undergraduate students’ science research experiences and career interest is important in efforts to broaden participation and to diversify the biomedical research workforce. The results from our prospective longitudinal study demonstrated that underrepresented minority student (URM) research assistants who see the altruistic value of conducting biomedical research feel more psychologically involved with their research over time, which, in turn, enhances their interest in pursuing a scientific research career. These altruistic motives are uniquely influential to URM students and appear to play an important role in influencing their interest in scientific research careers. Furthermore, seeing how research can potentially affect society and help one's community does not replace typical motives for scientific discovery (e.g., passion, curiosity, achievement), which are important for all students. These findings point to simple strategies for educators, training directors, and faculty mentors to improve retention among undergraduate URM students in biomedicine and the related sciences.