Peer-Mentoring Groups
Spring 2010 Getting Started Guidelines (PDF)

university hallPeer-Mentoring Groups seek to decrease the sense of isolation frequently experienced by women STEM faculty and women faculty of color by fostering a confidential network of colleagues and cohorts.  Meetings are peer-led informal, covering a range of personal and professional development issues selected by group members. ADVANCE provides readings, resources, and/or convenes round tables with representatives from University offices that may be able to address group questions or concerns.  Group members share skills and resources related to a range of issues including but not limited to professional development, work/life balance, and career advancement at Brown.  

ADVANCE assists groups by providing readings and resources to fa ciliate group discussions. We also provide logistical support by locating meeting space and providing light refreshments. We can extend invitations guest speakers (e.g. a recent TPAC member, an HR representative responsible for dependent care policies, or campus liaisons to federal and private foundation funding agencies).

Our Faculty Development Workshop Series grew out of resources provided to peer-mentoring groups on topics including:
  • Negotiating with Your Department Chair
  • Just Say No
  • Lab Management

This program is part of the ADVANCE Faculty Development Programs, which currently support two approaches to mentoring: One-to-One Faculty Mentoring and Peer Mentoring Groups.
2009-10 Group Concentrations

The 2009-10 academic year includes three peer-mentoring groups.

  1. Women faculty of color across all disciplines
  2. Women faculty in the biological, life, and physical sciences
  3. Mid-career (associate and full professor) women faculty in the biological, life, and physical sciences
Suggested Readings
  1. Gender-Informed Mentoring Strategies for Women Engineering Scholars: On Establishing a Caring Community by Naomi Chesler and Mark Chesler, 2002. http://vtb.bme.wisc.edu/Chesler_JEE_2002.pdf. Accessed Sep 5, 2008.
  2. "Mentoring Across Cultures" by Betty Neal Crutcher. In Academe, July/August 2007. http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2007/JA/Feat/crut.htm. Accessed Sep 5, 2008.
  3. Superservicable Feminism by Katie Hogan, 2005. http://www.theminnesotareview.org/journal/ns6364/iae_ns6364_superserviceablefeminism.shtml. Accessed Sep 5, 2008. Examines the silent economy of gendered service in the Academy
  4. “The X-Gals Alliance” by Lucille Louis, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 2006. http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2006/10/2006100201c.htm. Accessed Sep 5, 2008. Chronicles the adventures of a peer support group for female biologists.
  5. Gender Equality in Academia: Bad News from the Trenches, and Some Possible Solutions by Kristen Monroe, Saba Ozyurt, Ted Wrigley, and Amy Alexander, 2008. http://advance.uci.edu/media/GenderEquality.June08.pdf. Accessed Sep 5, 2008.
  6. The Campus Climate Revisited: Chilly for Women Faculty, Administrators, and Graduate Students by Bernice Sandler and Roberta Hall, 1986. http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1c/e2/a6.pdf. Accessed Sep 5, 2008.
  7. “Opt Out” or Pushed Out?: The Untold Story of Why Women Leave the Workforce by Joan C. Williams, Jessica Manvell, and Stephanie Bornstein, 2006. http://www.worklifelaw.org/pubs/OptOutPushedOut.pdf. Accessed Sept. 5, 2008.
  8. “Beyond Gender Schemas: Improving the Advancement of Women in Academia” by Virginia Valian. In Hypatia vol. 20, no. 3 (Summer 2005). http://maxweber.hunter.cuny.edu/psych/faculty/valian/docs/2005BeyoundGender.pdf. Accessed Sep 5, 2008.