SPHHS Doctoral Students Receive STEM Leadership Fellowship
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SPHHS doctoral students Shivranjani Gandhi (Community Health Education), Godness Biney (Epidemiology), and Ruth Appiah Kubi (Health Policy and Management) are among the recipients of this year’s STEM Leadership Fellowship from the UMass Amherst Graduate School.
“Joining the inaugural cohort of the STEM Leadership Fellows provides a meaningful opportunity to continue growing as a public health researcher and STEM professional,” says Appiah Kubi. “It offers a chance to connect with peers who are committed to leading with purpose, clarity and confidence. I look forward to exchanging ideas, learning from diverse perspectives, and co-creating meaningful change at UMass and beyond.”
Funded by a U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovations in Graduate Education grant, the two-year program provides STEM doctoral students with training in inclusive leadership – including training on how to lead classrooms and research groups and to collaborate effectively with others. Fellows will also receive $500 per semester for their participation.
In Year 1, fellows will:
- Attend skill-building workshops;
- Gain insights from leaders and strategies for effective leadership;
- Learn how to pull together groups of people with a diversity of backgrounds and opinions in order to achieve a goal.
In Year 2, they will:
- Participate in a leadership project with a small group of peers under the guidance of a mentor to create meaningful change at UMass;
- Get individualized career coaching from a professional coach.
“As a student from a resource-constrained background, I have felt the university as an inaccessible space and breaking through the barriers to access the education that I require has taken a significant amount of time and toll on me,” says Gandhi. “However, given the opportunities I have received and the experiences I have had at UMass, I am even more determined to stay in the academy and support the next generation of students in achieving their dreams and goals. This program helps you understand the ‘hidden curriculum’ and helps you navigate systemic barriers which are not always clearly understood or visible.”
“When I saw the opportunity, I could not have been happier because it came at a time when I wanted to expand my efforts to create belonging and inclusivity in my group and among my students,” adds Biney. “I was excited about the idea of a living definition of belonging, what that means for people with different lived experiences, and how I could use that understanding to strengthen my leadership as a STEM graduate student. I believe that having the perspectives of different people in this inaugural cohort, along with the experiences of leaders in the field and coaches to guide us, will definitely improve my leadership skills and benefit the students and groups I am part of now and in the future.”