CBE—Life Sciences Education (LSE; http://www.lifescied.org/) will publish a special issue in 2016 on broadening participation in the life sciences. This includes aspects of difference such as race/ethnicity, gender, ability status, nationality, religious affiliation, sexual orientation and gender identity, socioeconomic background (including first-generation college students), and their intersections. Topics that fit this issue include, but are not limited to:
- Research on factors that affect access, persistence, and identity as a scientist;
- Evaluation of curricular or programmatic innovations, including technologies and social media, which can be used by life science faculty and administrators to improve access, persistence, and success;
- Studies of efficacy and effectiveness of education programming and policy aimed at broadening participation;
- Evaluation of professional development programs for faculty members and other mentors aimed at promoting participation and success for all students;
- Research on strategies that promote and sustain institutional change to broaden participation; and
- Application of theoretical perspectives (e.g., life course theory, social ecological models, etc.) or disciplinary approaches (e.g., implementation science, behavioral economics, systems/complexity science, etc.) not often used in the life science education community to enhance efforts to broaden participation.
Studies can make use of qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, and theoretical approaches. We are particularly interested in literature that focuses on sustained institutional change. Manuscripts that describe efforts to broaden participation in both formal and informal contexts and across the educational continuum (K-12, undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral, and career) are welcomed.
Authors are strongly encouraged to submit a brief abstract (250 words or less) to the guest editors for this special issue, Pat Marsteller (pmars@emory.edu) and Kenneth Gibbs (kgibbsjr@gmail.com), by September 1, 2015. Abstracts will be reviewed by the editors in consultation with Erin Dolan, editor-in-chief of LSE (edolan@austin.utexas.edu), to determine fit with the theme and to ensure that a range of topics and perspectives are represented in the issue. Manuscripts submitted by January 15, 2016, will be guaranteed full consideration.Manuscripts that are favorably reviewed but beyond the scope of this theme may be published in a different issue of the journal. If you have questions about this issue, please contact the guest editors or editor-in-chief.
Full call for papers: