Advancing Women in Science

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Advancing Women in Science
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Sequence of Events

• Baseline for comparison climate study
• Interventions
• Theory in the background
• Draw on systems theory
• Multiple points of entry
• Fostering collective identity for women
  scientists
• Evaluation bias and data on gender
• Backlash and strategies for minimizing backlash
• Progress so far
• Whats next

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Design of Climate Study

• Primary Design Instructional track Female
  scientists compared with
• Male scientists (random subsample)
• Female social scientists (all those in colleges
  with scientists)
• Secondary Design Track by Gender
• Instructional vs. Primary Research vs. Clinical
• Male vs. Female Scientists

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Key Differences in Climate Survey Findings

• Household structure
• More likely not partnered
• More likely to have partner employed fulltime
• Contract Renegotiation (including counter-offers)
• Men have more items in package
• Service
• Serve on more committees
• Not more likely to chair them
• Mentoring
• Less mentoring of assistant professors

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Institutional Climate Overall

• Overall rated satisfaction with position at UM
  (women scientists lowest)
• Gender discrimination in past 5 years (40 of
  women scientists report at least one area)
• Unwanted sexual attention in past 5 years (20 of
  women scientists report)

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Effects of Climate on Career Outcomes
Tolerant atmosphere Egalitarian
Atmosphere Mentoring Transparent policies and
procedures Fair department chair
Positive Climate
Career Outcome
Satisfaction Thriving
Faculty Member
Dissatisfaction Struggling
Discrimination Harassment Surveillance Stereotypi
ng Tokenism Vague or secret
policies and procedures Unfair department
chair
Negative Climate
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Implications of the Findings

• Increase critical mass
• Improve climate for women scientists by
• increasing critical mass!
• improving experience of equity in key areas
• improving work-household interface
• lessening service burdens and increasing
  opportunities for leadership
• improving mentoring
• improving departmental microclimates

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Addressing Climate at Multiple Points of Entry

• Institution-wide
• Publicizing issue/Consciousness-raising
• Creating collective identity for women scientists
  and engineers
• Institutionalizing policy change
• Departmental microclimates
• Feminist theory in the background
• Incentives for self-analysis and self-motivated
  change
• Individuals
• Leveling the playing field
• Leadership opportunities for women

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Addressing Climate at Multiple Points of Entry

• Institution-wide

• Publicizing issue throughout institution Sept
  26, 2002 Launch
• Establish Network across collegescreating
  collective identity
• Policy changesinstitutionalizing change

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ADVANCE Launch September 26, 2002

• Release of Climate Survey Report
• Presentations by UM President and UM Provost, NSF
  Program Director, and ADVANCE PI and Co-PI
• Attended by approximately 275 members of the UM
  community

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Network of Women Scientists and Engineers Year
One

• ADVANCE planned
• Inaugural Dinner (March 2002)
• Negotiation workshop (October 2002)
• Dinner and Interactive Theatre presentation by
  CRLT Players (December 2002)
• Crosby Award Reception (January 2003)
• Negotiation Workshop (March 2003)
• Reception With President Mary Sue Coleman (April
  2003)

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Network of Women Scientists and Engineers Year
Two

• Women scientists planned and/or requested
• Leadership Retreat (Fall 2003)
• Additional Leadership Training
• New Mentoring Program
• ADVANCE planned
• Report on progress by Provost and President
• Lecture series on leadership

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Policy Changes University-wide

• Committee on Gender in Science and Engineering
• Subcommittees to offer recommendations on
• Faculty Tracks and Work/Family Integration
• Evaluation and Promotion of Faculty
• Recruitment, Retention, and Leadership

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Policy ChangesWithin Colleges

• College of Literature, Science Arts
• Creating new recruitment policyshortlist review
• Enhancing family-friendly policies
• Questioning biological construction of motherhood
• Questioning assignment of parenting to mothers

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Addressing Climate at Multiple Points of Entry

• Science and Technology Recruiting to Improve
  Diversity and Excellence (STRIDE)
• Departmental Transformation Grants Fund
  self-change efforts designed by departments based
  on self-analysis

• Department Microclimates

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Department Microclimates Influencing Recruitment

• Creation of STRIDE (committee for Science and
  Technology Recruiting to Increase Diversity and
  Excellence)
• Eight science and engineering full professors
• Preparation of handbook
• Encourage better, equitable recruiting strategies
• Over 20 presentations last year
• Created FASTER (Friends and Allies of Science and
  Technology Equity and Recruiting)

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STRIDE
John Vandermeer, Samuel Mukasa, Pamela Raymond,
Carol Fierke, Anthony England Joel Swanson,
(Michael Savageau former member), Martha
Pollack, Abigail Stewart, Melvin Hochster
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Recruitment strategies Feminist Theory in the
Background

• STRIDE presents
• Conceptual tools
• Gender schemas
• Evaluation bias
• Critical mass
• Accumulation of disadvantage
• Empirical evidence
• Evaluations of cvs
• Evaluation of fellowship and grant proposals
• Impact on salary of different background factors
• Influence of small biases on institutional
  outcomes
• Leadership and the head of the table
• Webcast www.rice.edu/webcast/speeches/20010329v
  alian.html

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Lowered career success rate

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Are We Affecting Recruitment? Progress to Date

• Recruitment
• Increase critical mass

Science and Engineering Hires, 2001-02 and 2003-03
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Departmental Microclimates Self- Analysis and
Transformation Grants

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
• Interviewed 16 women candidates
• Hired 4 new women faculty
• Chemical Engineering Material Sciences
• Provide teaching release and international travel
  funds to 2 women faculty
• Funded a joint mentoring program

• Chemistry
• Provided travel and summer salary funds to some
  women faculty
• Conducted climate survey
• Funded junior faculty forum to develop stronger
  networks
• Hired 2 new women faculty

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Addressing Climate at Multiple Points of Entry

• Leveling the Playing Field for Individuals

• Elizabeth C. Crosby Fund Funds research-related
  needs of individual facultyleveling playing
  field
• Leadership opportunities for women scientists

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Elizabeth Crosby Awards

• 7 Awards in 2002
• 4 in COE
• 2 in LSA
• 1 in Medicine
• 13 Awards in 2003
• 3 in COE
• 7 in LSA
• 1 in Medicine
• 1 in Public Health
• 1 in Kinesiology

Elizabeth Caroline Crosby 1888-1983 UM
Neuroanatomist
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2002 Elizabeth Caroline Crosby Award Winners
Aline Cotel Civil Environmental Engineering
Joanna Mirecki Millunchick Materials Science
Engineering
Geneva Omann Surgery/Biological Chemistry
Kristen Moore Mathematics
Maria Clara Castro Geology
Ana Sirviente Naval Arch. Marine Engineering
Kimberlee Kearfott Nuclear Engineering/
Biomedical Engineering
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2003 CrosbyAward Winners
Amy Cohn Industrial Operations
Rachel Goldman Material Science and Engineering
Mingyan Liu Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science
Trachette Jackson Mathematics
Katarina Borer Kinesiology
Robyn Burnham Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Ingrid Hendy Geological Sciences
Rebecca A. Bernstein Astronomy
Laura Olsen Molecular/Cellular/ Developmental
Biology
Smadar Karni Mathematics
Elizaveta Levina Statistics
Rosemary Rochford Epidemiology
Michele Swanson Microbiology and Immunology

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Progress in Leadership

• Valerie Castle 1st woman chair in Medicine
• Deborah Goldberg 1st woman science chair in LSA
• Laurie McCauley chair in Dentistry

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Leadership Workshops

• Workshops on leadership and negotiation
• Women in LSA and Medicine supported to attend
  leadership programs (Bryn Mawr, Simmons, CIC,
  ELAM)
• Web listing of leadership programs
• www.umich.edu/advproj

Effective Negotiation Workshop for Women Faculty
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Progress to Date Overview

• Recruitment
• Increase critical mass
• Retention
• Maintain critical mass
• Leadership
• Improve climate

• Climate
• Collective identity
• Alliances
• Institutional change
• Change the rhetoric
• Change policies

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Backlash and Unintended Negative Effects

• Grant doesnt cover primary research track
  exacerbates feelings of exclusion
• Launch of climate report and media attention
• Open backlash among men in one department
• Probably subtler effects in others
• Disappointment re Departmental Transformation
  Grant proposals not rewarded
• Conflict over content and/or process of writing
  DTG proposals

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Strategies to Reduce Resistance and Backlash

• STRIDE draws on theory without visible
  theoretical apparatus
• Uses concepts like accumulation of
  disadvantage that apply to other social
  phenomena as well as to gender
• Employs analogies (usually provided by Valians
  work) from studies on things other than gender
• Getting men invested and involved
• Participate on STRIDE and on advisory committees
• Seek out allies/alliances
• Mens contributions recognized
• Focus on students

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Whats Ahead?

• Continued effort at changing the climate (CRLT
  Players)
• Increased attention to institutionalization
• Increased inclusion of attention to
  race-ethnicity
• Increased focus on knowledge gains
• in understanding
• women scientists
• gender in the academy
• gender and science
• in developing feminist theory
• in understanding organizational change
• balancing costs and benefits of intervention