I am a co-founder of the Strategic Preparation for Academic Resilience and Know-how (SPARK) program, which is an initiative to prepare STEM graduate students who identify as women for faculty careers. We are creating resources and workshops to fill a gap in preparation that isn’t readily available as part of many graduate programs or targeted for an audience of women.
Our primary focus is to help women graduate students strategically plan for their first academic job search. We have created an 11-week workshop series that provides background about the faculty and post-doc job search process. Each participant will create a draft of major statements required to apply for most academic jobs. Then participants will work in small groups with a mentor to peer review and refine each statement.
