Angela Byars-Winston facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Angela Byars-Winston
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Image of Byars-Winston at the White House
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| Alma mater | San Diego State University Arizona State University University of Maryland, College Park |
| Awards | ACTS Clinical and Translational Research Distinguished Educator Award: Mentorship Innovation (2022)
University of Wisconsin–Madison Outstanding Woman of Color Award (2014) Named United States' Champions of Change (2011) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
Angela Michelle Byars-Winston is a respected professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She teaches about Internal Medicine. She made history as the first African American to become a tenured Full Professor of medicine at this university. Dr. Byars-Winston studies how culture affects people's careers, especially for women and minority groups in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). She is also a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. In 2011, Barack Obama honored her as one of his "Champions of Change."
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Early Life and Education
Angela Byars-Winston started her college journey at San Diego State University. She earned her first degree there in 1991. The very next year, in 1992, she completed her master's degree.
After that, she moved to the University of Maryland, College Park. Here, she completed a special program called a predoctoral clinical fellowship. This helped her get ready for advanced studies.
She then went to Arizona State University for her graduate school studies. She chose to focus on counseling psychology. In 1996, she finished her important research paper, called a dissertation. This work helped shape national policies. During her time at Arizona State University, she was one of only two Black PhD students in the School of Education.
Career Highlights
Dr. Byars-Winston joined the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1997. She started as a KL2 scholar, which is a special research position. In 2011, she joined the School of Medicine. She became very interested in how people's personal identities affect their college experiences.
Research on Mentoring
Dr. Byars-Winston and her team received a large grant of $1.4 million. This money came from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). They used it to study how mentors define diversity. Mentors are experienced people who guide others. The team also looked for ways to measure how good mentoring helps people's careers.
She is also part of a big national project. This project, called the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), received $19 million from the NIH. Dr. Byars-Winston has studied how to make mentoring programs better. She also followed college students in biology over time. She watched how their relationships with mentors affected their school success.
Helping Diverse Students in STEM
The United States needs more people in science and engineering. One way to do this is to encourage groups like African Americans, Latino/as, South East Asians, and Native Americans (called 'ALANA') to study STEM.
Dr. Byars-Winston uses a theory called social cognitive career theory. She uses it to see how a person's background affects their confidence in school and their success. She found some challenges for ALANA researchers. These include feeling left out or facing unfair treatment.
She showed that race and ethnicity can affect what people expect from their careers. It can even affect this more than what they hope for. To help with this, she started two programs:
- The Training and Education to Advance Minority Scholars in Science (TEAM-Science) program.
- The Culturally Aware Mentoring (CAM) program.
These programs help people talk openly about race and ethnicity in science. She is also working with the National Academy of Sciences. They are looking at how well programs help people who have been overlooked in STEM fields.
Awards and Recognition
In 2011, Barack Obama recognized Dr. Byars-Winston as one of the United States' "Champions of Change." This was part of his "Educate to Innovate" campaign. This campaign aimed to get young people more involved in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
Dr. Byars-Winston is also a member of important groups. She serves on the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity STEM Equity Pipeline National Advisory Board. She is also on the Wisconsin Career Development Association Executive Committee.
In 2014, she won the University of Wisconsin–Madison Outstanding Woman of Color Award. In 2016, she was a visiting professor at Purdue University. There, she led many workshops on mentoring. She also published a guide called Promising Practices for Strengthening the Regional STEM Workforce Development Ecosystem.
In 2017, Dr. Byars-Winston made history again. She became the first African American to be a tenured Full Professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She was also chosen to join the National Academy of Sciences Board of Higher Education and Workforce (BHEW).
Most recently, in 2022, she received another award. It was the ACTS (Association for Clinical and Translational Science) Clinical and Translational Research Distinguished Educator Award. This award recognized her amazing work in mentoring researchers. It also honored her efforts to make clinical research better and more welcoming for everyone.
