Deborah Rivas-Drake is a research grantee whose research focuses on strengthening Latinas’ civic and political capacities to reduce inequalities in Latinas’ academic participation. A seasoned mentor, Rivas-Drake has trained and mentored eleven doctoral candidates, eight master’s students, and more than forty graduate students of color, in addition to early and mid-career scholars in the field. As incoming Associate Director of the University of Michigan ADVANCE Program, a university-wide initiative that develops, implements, and studies programs to support faculty recruitment, retention, climate, and leadership, Rivas-Drake will be well positioned to push for institutional change around mentoring for faculty of color, including developing materials for colleagues serving on ADVANCE’s first-year faculty mentoring committees around the university. An accomplished Latina researcher, Rivas-Drake will use this award to support her mentee, Bernadette Pinetta, a Latina doctoral student. With respect to supporting Pinetta’s career, Rivas-Drake aims to improve her capacity to support Latinas and other women of color to develop multigenerational mentoring networks, as well as leverage her large and expansive professional network of psychology and education scholars at different types of institutions to support Pinetta’s exploration of possible academic career pathways. Pinetta’s goals include developing the skills to challenge asymmetrical relationships of power in and out of academia by ensuring the work she does centers the knowledge, experiences, and needs of communities who have historically experienced harm by research institutions; creating project outputs that are accessible and contribute to positive social changes; and paving a pathway for a career in academia while staying committed to the aforementioned goals.
With this award, Rivas-Drake aims to improve her capacity to support Latinas and other women of color to develop multigenerational mentoring networks.
