Dr. Marcia M. Burrell, professor and chair of curriculum and instruction at SUNY Oswego, was selected to attend the 2016 Higher Education Resource Services (HERS) Bryn Mawr Summer Institute from July 9 to 22. Burrell was also invited to join the HERS Luce Program for Women in STEM Leadership.
Burrell joins a group of 64 women leaders from across the United States as part of the HERS Institute at Bryn Mawr College, 21 of whom are a part of the HERS Luce Program. She is supported for participation by the SUNY Oswego President’s Office and School of Education.
During her more than two decades at Oswego, Burrell has constantly worked to further her own leadership development while working to encourage and support initiatives that promote strong professional growth for her faculty colleagues. One of her most recent roles involves serving as a mentor and co-coordinator of the college’s Mentoring Core Group for Faculty and Staff of Color, which establishes a network of mentors across campus to give attention and support to first- and second-year employees while working to engage with professionals of color who live and work in the local community.
Burrell’s current and recent activities also have included projects focused on developing and facilitating undergraduate courses and travel with colleagues and students to France and the African nation of Benin, teaching mathematics from a multicultural perspective and using data to promote organizational change.
“Passionate about her work with students as well as with faculty and staff, Marcia has amassed a superb record of initiatives for exposing students to work in STEM fields and deepen their global literacy and learn to utilize coping strategies for greater academic and personal success,” SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley said. “Marcia is a strong advocate for ethnically and culturally diverse student populations; she works diligently to develop collaborations with faculty and staff across schools and colleges in order to bolster a vibrant and inclusive campus learning environment for all students. I am confident that Marcia’s participation in HERS Summer Institute at Bryn Mawr will not only fulfill her personal goals but will also greatly benefit SUNY Oswego’s campus community.”
About HERS
In November 2015 HERS received a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation in celebration of 25 years of extraordinary support for individual women students and faculty in science through the Clare Boothe Luce Program. Agreeing with the Luce Foundation that the advancement of women in STEM education requires advancing more women into leadership roles in STEM fields and into senior positions supporting STEM, HERS will draw upon over 40 years of providing leadership development experiences for women in higher education through its intensive residential programs, the HERS Leadership Institutes.
A key part of the HERS Luce Program is the development of a HERS STEM Community. The goals of the community are to provide support and encouragement to women in STEM and to develop strategies for advancing a diverse cadre of women into STEM leadership roles. Based on experience with HERS alumnae in STEM fields and research on women’s leadership paths, HERS has identified the importance of women leaders having structured peer and mentor connections at various stages of their careers. The goal is that by working together, this community of women leaders can thrive and shape a new environment for equality and excellence in STEM higher education.
For more information on HERS, visit hersnet.org.