Cross-Generational Female Economist Mentorship Program (C-FEM)

Mentorship Program

C-FEM, an innovative mentorship program that will connect female and non-binary/gender non-conforming economists. Mentorship teams consist of one member from each of the following groups: high school students, introductory economics college students, economics majors, and alumni.

For more information, contact mcde@stkate.edu

Who's in C-FEM?

Who Are They?

Where Are They Located?

What do They Study?

About the Center

The Minnesota Center for Diversity in Economics (MCDE) exists to ensure that people of all backgrounds lead and influence economic research and decision-making. The MCDE promotes and supports gender and racial diversity in economics at every stage of the educational and career pipeline.

The field of economics suffers from an underrepresentation of women and minorities that exceeds the more widely publicized underrepresentation in STEM fields. In Minnesota, 31% of economics students are women and 12% are U.S.-born people of color (only 4% are U.S.-born women of color). The MCDE promotes and supports gender and racial diversity in economics at every stage of the educational and career pipeline.

Mentorship Program

C-FEM: Cross-Generational Female Economist Mentorship Program , an innovative mentorship program that will connect female and non-binary/gender non-conforming economists.

Design, implement, and study interventions targeted at women ages 16–20 

Recent research out of Swarthmore (Bayer, Bhanot & Lozano 2018) shows that low-cost information/email nudges can make a big difference in attracting and retaining women to the field of economics. The MCDE will lead efforts to implement this sort of outreach in Minnesota.

Engage women and underrepresented students in research

Collaborative undergraduate research is a best practice for recruiting and retaining underrepresented students to economics. The MCDE will provide research assistantships that study a range of issues of interest to the faculty and students who work with the Center.

Target teacher professional development

Research shows that teachers pass math anxiety to their students akin to passing a virus. This relationship is particularly strong for female teachers and female students (Beilock, Gunderson, Ramirez & Levine 2010, Ramirez 2018). The same mechanism is likely at work in economics. K-12 teachers need to feel confident in their economic and personal finance knowledge and the Minnesota Council on Economic Education (with whom the MCDE is affiliated) is the only organization in the state focused on this key mechanism.

Forge partnerships with local/regional stakeholders

The MCDE connects a range of stakeholders from the public and private sectors who are working to improve representation in economics and personal finance. By promoting opportunities to network and share across groups, the MCDE works to ensure that Minnesota’s students and teachers have access to the best possible set of resources.