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Dr. Margaret "Meg" Smith, a University of North Georgia (Â鶹ÊÓƵ) associate professor of biology, is part of a 75-person cohort that will be mentored through a National Science Foundation (NSF) program.

The $1 million NSF Advancing STEM Careers by Empowering Network Development (ASCEND) project, which is part of the NSF's ADVANCE partnership, seeks "to create peer mentoring networks of mid-career STEM women faculty and administrator allies across institutions and regions," according to an NSF press release.

Participants receive the title of NSF ASCEND Faculty Fellow. They attend monthly online meetings with their discipline-specific alliance and annual face-to-face meetings with their regional network.

"This program aims for retention through building networks," Smith said. "Those networks will persist long after the money is gone."

Smith considers the NSF program a great extension of what she receives at Â鶹ÊÓƵ.

"I can't say enough about the supportive nature of the Â鶹ÊÓƵ biology department," she said.

Sixty faculty and 15 administrators from across the country are part of the cohort that runs through summer 2024.

"Faculty and administrators will work together to address the institutional and systemic barriers that prevent women at the mid-career level from being promoted to full professor or obtaining positions in academic administration," according to the release.