Abstract Detail

Teaching Section

Grega, Lisa [1], Bates, Diane [2], Borland, Elizabeth [2], Clark, Karen [3], Norvell, Amanda [4], Van der Sandt, Suriza [3], Yan, Karen [1], Osborn, Jeffrey [5].

Professional Advancement of Women Faculty Members in STEM Fields: Strategies, Lessons Learned, and Building Capacity for Sustained Progress.

The scarcity of women at the highest ranks is a well-known problem in academic science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) departments. At The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), significant progress has been made in the promotion of women faculty to the ranks of Associate Professor and Professor in NSF-supported disciplines, catalyzed to a large degree by the TCNJ Advancement Program. In 2009, TCNJ received an ADVANCE-PAID grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create the TCNJ Advancement Program (TAP), which focused on four initiatives. The Mentorship Initiative established a structured mentorship program to give junior and pre-promotion tenured faculty access to mentors, including an external mentor. The Professional Development Initiative provided workshop and networking opportunities. To help women faculty members balance career and family demands, transparent family leave policies were proposed and are working their way through TCNJ’s governance system as part of the Family Initiative. Finally, to evaluate progress in gender equity and to assess the impact of TAP, the Equity Assessment Initiative conducted a thorough assessment of gender equity at TCNJ through the collection and tracking of faculty data, campus climate surveys, and qualitative interviews of Professors in NSF-supported disciplines. These initiatives have been very successful and helped advance women faculty in the NSF-supported disciplines and promote gender equity at TCNJ. In particular, more than a quarter of women associate professors in NSF-supported disciplines (27%) were promoted to this rank since TAP began. At the rank of Professor, nearly half of the women (46%) were promoted during this time. These effects are most pronounced in the STEM disciplines. In the School of Science alone (including the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics & Statistics, and Physics), TAP’s initiatives, coupled with several earlier efforts, culminated a six-year period in which: (a) 43% of the current tenure-line faculty members are women (29 of 68) – an 8% increase; (b) 9 faculty members were promoted to Professor (5 women, 4 men); and (c) 16 faculty members were promoted to Associate Professor (8 women, 8 men). With TCNJ’s increasing number of women faculty members in NSF-supported disciplines, both in total (44%, 57 of 131) and at advanced ranks (13 professors, 23 associate professors), developing effective mentoring and leadership skills is critical for sustaining the professional successes and advances of all women faculty members, as well as integrating these efforts into institutional and departmental cultures into the future.

Broader Impacts:

1 - The College of New Jersey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2000 Pennington Road, P.O. Box 7718, Ewing, NJ, 08628-0718, USA
2 - The College of New Jersey, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, 2000 Pennington Road, P.O. Box 7718, Ewing, NJ, 08628-0718, USA
3 - The College of New Jersey, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, 2000 Pennington Road, P.O. Box 7718, Ewing, NJ, 08628-0718, USA
4 - The College of New Jersey, Department of Biology, 2000 Pennington Road, P.O. Box 7718, Ewing, NJ, 08628-0718, USA
5 - The College of New Jersey, School of Science, 2000 Pennington Road, P.O. Box 7718, Ewing, NJ, 08628-0718, USA

Keywords:
National Science Foundation
Women in Science
Professional Advancement
Gender Equity
Mentorship
professional development
Faculty Development.

Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Sections
Session: P
Location: Grand Salon A - D/Riverside Hilton
Date: Monday, July 29th, 2013
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PTE009
Abstract ID:892
Candidate for Awards:None