Educational
Dr. Kelly Mack: Co-Founder of the Society of STEM Women of Color, Inc
Kelly Mack, Ph.D. is seen within the field of higher education as a thought leader and is a STEM trailblazer, with a lengthy resume and years of experience under her belt, including being the President and co-founder of The Society of STEM Women of Color, Inc.
Photo courtesy of CodonLearning
Receiving her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 1991 and her Ph.D. from Howard University in 2005, Dr. Mack went on to teach courses in Physiology and Endocrinology for 17 years at her alma mater, UMES.
Dr. Mack was instrumental during her time at UMES, serving as the Biology Program Director where she provided leadership in the development of biology majors, and led many externally-funded projects. One of these was the UMES ADVANCE Program, where she worked on issues that African American women faculty faced within STEM and created practices for the entire UMES faculty to promote professional development.
She soon became the Senior Program Director for the National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE Program, where she focused on including the issues that women of color face in the national discussion on gender equity in STEM, while also greatly increasing the number of predominantly undergraduate institutions, community colleges and minority-serving institutions that participate in the ADVANCE Portfolio.
Dr. Mack currently works as the Vice President for Undergraduate STEM Education and Executive Director of Project Kaleidoscope at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). Here, she leads the program’s commitment to inclusion and quality through delivering professional development meant to empower the STEM faculty to competitively train more STEM students.
She was named one of Diverse Magazine’s top 25 women in higher education in 2015, has had her work highlighted in U.S. News and World Report, and currently serves on multiple external advisory boards in different educational institutions.
The Society of STEM Women of Color exists to enable women from historically underrepresented backgrounds to fully pursue careers in the STEM industry without externally imposed limitations. As an organization, they seek to provide professional and personal development opportunities, conduct research on the lived experiences of women of color in STEM, and create a community in order to create change.