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5 Collaboration, Networks, and Role of Professional Organizations
Pages 69-82

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From page 69...
... . In light of this challenge, institutions are being encouraged to understand the explicit and implicit mechanisms of the COVID-19 pandemic on shifting norms in collaboration and networking for women STEMM academics.
From page 70...
... HISTORICAL EVENTS AND THE IMPACTS ON COLLABORATIONS AND NETWORKING The COVID-19 pandemic is not the first time a major global crisis has shifted norms associated with academic collaboration and networking at universities. After World War II, international collaborations on university campuses and interactions among academic colleagues globally were stunted, resulting in reduced productivity, as measured by publications and patent awards, and a slowing of new and novel advancements along the scientific research frontier (Iaria et al., 2018)
From page 71...
... . (See Chapter 4 for more on how family obligations are affecting women STEMM faculty.)
From page 72...
... . When considering specific disciplines, like Earth and space scientists represented through the American Geophysical Union and life scientists, virtual collaborations have proved incredibly beneficial for journal clubs, meeting collaborators, workshops, and conferences, among other collaborative mechanisms (Korbel and Stegle, 2020; Wooden and Hanson, 2020)
From page 73...
... . EFFECTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND NETWORKS Professional societies and networks can serve as conduits to standing up programs and policies that help mitigate the loss of collaborative networking among women scientists, as these organizations have historically responded to national crises by equipping their members to meet societal needs (Morris and Washington, 2018)
From page 74...
... During the social distancing guidelines and stay-at-home orders in place in 2020, professional organizations catered to an emerging set of member needs around collaboration, mentorship, and sponsorship while navigating constraints arising from the cancellation of in-person events, decreased philanthropic support, and less income typically supplied by membership fees. The financial losses that many of these organizations have suffered hindered the ability of professional trade and professional associations to establish alternative approaches to making their activities more widely available during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From page 75...
... To further improve efforts to support academic women in STEMM during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, evidence suggests that creating partnerships with networks that specialize in addressing gender equity issues in STEMM could further amplify gender-equity work at professional organizations (ARC, 2020; Aspire, 2020; NIH, 2020a)
From page 76...
... program has provided funding to support the implementation of evidence-based systemic change strategies that specifically promote equity for women STEM faculty in academic workplaces and the academic profession.4 In 2010, the ADVANCE Implementation Mentors (AIM) Network was formed to establish a common mentoring network for ADVANCE program coordinators and project directors at all developmental stages of ADVANCE grants with the purpose of answering questions and providing support, sharing promising practices, and establishing a common resource base.
From page 77...
... . However, when professional organizations shifted to virtual events as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, they were cautioned to keep membership engagement in a central location to ensure members can readily find information and directly network with the organization and other members (Community Brands, 2020)
From page 78...
... A review of the public-facing web pages of 246 STEMM professional organizations did not show evidence of the steps organizations are taking to combat the bias women experience in virtual meetings and events or how they were being intentional about highlighting presentations, keynotes, and resources written by women during the COVID-19 pandemic.6 In a study conducted to review the 5  There are examples of large-scale, virtual professional society meetings, such as the American Geophysical Union 2020 meeting held during December 2020 that used several synchronous and asynchronous modes of engagement. 6  More information about this review can be found in Appendix C
From page 79...
... . Additionally, they found that out of the meetings reporting names of chairs, organizers, and invited speakers online, only 43 percent and 34 percent of conferences achieved gender parity for conference chairs and session chairs, respectively; 41 percent achieved gender parity for conference organizers or steering committees; 32 percent and 34 percent achieved gender parity for keynote and plenary speakers, respectively; and only 17 percent had equal numbers of men and women as invited or featured speakers (Sarabipour et al., 2020)
From page 80...
... CONCLUSION The confluence of events that took place in 2020 highlighted the importance of professional organizations and networks using intentional, intersectional, and inclusive lenses to ascertain the range of opportunities and approaches available to build STEMM capacity, diversify STEMM fields, and meet the needs of academic women. Federally funded endeavors such as the NSF's ADVANCE program assisted professional organizations in magnifying policies and practices that not only support equity and inclusion but also mitigate the systemic factors that create inequities in the academic profession for women (NSF, 2020)
From page 81...
... . Because of the developing and ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be an opportunity for future, systematic studies of how STEMM networks and professional organizations responded and functioned during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly regarding who they serve, what they do, and with whom they collaborate.


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