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A national focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has increased public awareness and acknowledgement of challenges faced by members of Under-represented Minority (URM) groups pursuing academic careers. This case study of a multi-institutional partner-ship explores the development, implementation, and evolution of a replicable model to transition a cohort of STEM URM dissertators into the professoriate. The model structured cohort engagement around an Individual Development Plan (IDP), cohort participant engagement with multiple mentors, monthly scholarly learning community meetings, research and teaching immersion experiences at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and international institutions, and support and training around transferable skills necessary for job preparation and success, such as grant development, job search, portfolio preparation, interview skills, and online course development. Program evaluation results emphasized the evolution of collaborative practice among stakeholders in promoting the success of the model and among cohort participants as these participants transitioned into academic careers. Discussion of best practices to design and fine-tune the model included engagement of cohort participants in refining the implementation of the model activities, offering personalized services to the cohort members, and engaging research and practitioner communities using multiple dissemination strategies. The results of this work include publicly available virtual resources curated as part of the dissemination plan that can be explored for implementation at other institutions and use by individuals. 

Understanding the experiences of successful diverse science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) faculty can facilitate the development of programming that counteracts barriers and weaknesses from multiple angles. The challenges that students and professionals report can be broadly identified as either identity-based or institutional. The lack of diversity in STEM fields in academia can result in narrow viewpoints, limited student diversity, and missed opportunities to address today’s societal challenges. It is clear that we must consider programming that has positively impacted successful STEM faculty in academia in order to create effective programming to recruit and retain future diverse STEM faculty. Our phenomenological study sought to add to the literature related to the role that socialization plays in preparing individuals for success in faculty roles by conducting in-depth interviews with early-career STEM faculty members in under-represented groups. The phenomena under investigation were experiences leading to early-career STEM faculty members’ successful career pathways. Seven early-career STEM faculty from multiple institutions described unique paths to their current faculty position with some commonalities, including participation in undergraduate or postdoc research and having some industry experience. The suggestions, advice, and guidance offered by the participants fell into categories that, while mirrored in the literature, serve as useful markers for administrators developing programming. We organized our findings using the conceptual framework of socialization and the associated competencies for our context. As we strive to encourage and build diverse representation in populations of STEM academicians, these collective findings are invaluable. Findings confirm that programming directly impacts the success of early-career STEM faculty, and it is the success of these individuals that will enable diversity and inclusion to expand in STEM. Programs, interventions, and additional efforts for graduate students can also benefit from close examination of these experiences.