Associate Professor of Biology Spelman College Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Program Abstract: Spelman College has a history of academic excellence and disproportionate production of students from underrepresent backgrounds who earn advanced STEM degrees. HERstories uses video interviews to highlight factors common to African American female students who persist in science (undergraduate) and related STEM career pathways (graduate school, professional school and STEM workforce) from Spelman College. Using the lens of Career Embeddedness Theory, Spelman students and alumnae participants at each stage of the STEM workforce were interviewed to better detail the factors contributing to persistence in STEM. The interviews identified common and unique contributors to persistence in STEM for this population. These findings inform recommendations for broadening participation of underrepresented students and women in scientific disciplines using visual storytelling as a novel mode of dissemination. Further, this approach and other outcomes may inform HBCUs on how to tell the story of their unique value proposition and effective methods of sharing that story.
