"Hidden Figures" in Developmental Science Series Launched

There are over 100,000 psychology undergraduate majors and approximately 15,000 human development undergraduate majors in the United States of which approximately 15% are underrepresented minorities. Blacks and Hispanics are often underrepresented in graduate studies and particularly in full professor and leadership roles. SRCD’s Ethnic and Racial Issues Committee and Teaching Committee saw the opportunity to pique the interest of a broader diversity of potential developmental scientists at an earlier stage in their own career development.

With funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, SRCD launched a project to increase the visibility of leading developmental scientists of color who have made critical research contributions and paved the way, through mentoring and advocacy, for younger scholars of color. What resulted is a series of four videos, featuring 12 scholars, including narratives of these leaders’ professional trajectories, the challenges they have faced along the way, and their perspective on how diversity enhances the contributions of developmental science.  Pedagogical materials to accompany each of the four videos are being developed by SRCD’s Teaching Committee and will be made available late 2019 for early 2020 classroom use.

SRCD is pleased to share Increasing Awareness of Developmental Science, the first of four videos in the series. We invite you to watch, share, and use in your classes. Stay tuned for the other videos:

• How Did I Get Here: My Journey to Developmental Science
• Why Developmental Science?
• How Diversity Enhances the Contributions of Developmental Science

To quote Cynthia García Coll, one of the series’ featured scholars, we hope this video series "keeps you looking and learning all the time!"