Diversity in STEM

Delaware Pledges to Sign Up 2,000 STEM Mentors

• By Sri Ravipati
• 10/14/16

Delaware is the latest state to join a national movement to support women and girls in pursuing STEM careers. Last week, the state’s Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) formed a team for Million Women Mentors (MWM) and set a goal of pledging 2,000 STEM mentors by 2019.

So far, 36 other states and more than 847,000 mentors have already pledged to MWM, bringing the organization one step closer to its overall goal of pledging 1 million STEM mentors by 2019.

The department has formed a steering committee for the initiative. DHSS Secretary Rita Landgraf will serve as honorary chair; Jennifer Kmiec, founder of Inspiring Women in STEM, will be the Delaware chair; and nine other members from various councils and organizations will serve on the committee.

Landgraf said that Delaware is joining the movement in an effort to increase the state's current and future workforce pipeline to STEM fields.

"Every day in the Department of Health and Social Services, I see the importance of STEM," Landgraf said in a statement. "I see it in our Public Health lab workers and doctors and nurses across the agency, to our staff people who use technology to analyze data at all levels of our enterprise. In order for Delaware and the rest of the country to better embrace a diverse workforce for today and to grow an even more diverse workforce of the future, we need to give back by mentoring girls and women in the STEM fields."

MWM will work with Delaware's team to:

• Provide an automated, scalable and easy-to-use platform that equips STEM professionals with tools to become effective mentors;
• Match the team to educational institutions in need of STEM mentors and role models; and
• Build and support state teams to execute MWM at the local level.

To learn more about the movement, visit the Million Women Mentors site.