As Assistant Director of the University of Washington Center for Evaluation & Research for STEM Equity, Dr. Cara Margherio manages the evaluation of NSF- and NIH-funded projects, primarily working with national professional development programs for early-career academics belonging to groups underrepresented in STEM. Grounded in critical race and feminist theories, her research interests include community cultural wealth, counterspaces, intersectionality, and institutional change. Dr. Margherio holds a PhD and MA in Sociology from the University of Washington and a BPhil in Sociology and BS in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Margherio will research how women faculty of color remain not only underrepresented but also understudied at every level of the professoriate. Mentoring is one area of research in which the experiences of women faculty of color are often subsumed within the larger category of women faculty. Her research will synthesize the features that emerge as most salient to address the mentoring needs of women faculty of color. Ultimately, she will illustrate how shifting the focus changes our understanding of what needs are met by mentoring and what is necessary for mentoring to be beneficial.
