A National Professional Development Program Fills Mentoring Gaps for Postdoctoral Researchers

• In Event: Graduate and Postdoctoral Supervision, Mentoring, and Professional Development

Abstract

The Postdoc Academy: Succeeding as a Postdoc was designed to build postdocs’ skills in career transition, career planning, collaborative research, resilience, and self-reflection. This study examined the changes in the five skills as learners progressed through the course. Data were collected from postdocs who responded to pre- and post-surveys and engaged with learning activities. MANOVA results revealed that all the skills improved significantly upon course completion. Regression results showed that underrepresented minority postdocs had greater gains in their skill development in career planning, resilience, and self-reflection. Qualitative analysis found that postdocs perceived networking and mentor support as contributing factors to their skill advancement and tensions among multiple obligations and concerns of uncertainties as significant challenges to applying those skills.

Authors

• Ting Sun, University of Utah
  Presenting Author

• Denise L. Drane, Northwestern University
  Presenting Author

• Richard McGee, Northwestern University
  Presenting Author

• Henry III Campa, Michigan State University
  Presenting Author

• Bennett Goldberg, Northwestern University
  Presenting Author

• Sarah Chobot Hokanson, Boston University
  Presenting Author