Welcome to the October edition of the STEM LEAF/ADVANCE Newsletter!
Clarkson’s NSF ADVANCE grant is designed
1) to effect positive institutional change around reduction of implicit or unintentional bias associated with gender and intersectional issues of race, ethnicity, country of origin, sexual orientation, and disability,
2) to systematically and equitably support the development of inclusive leadership skills and the professional advancement of women STEM faculty, and
3) to implement sustainable, systematic changes across the University in support of these goals.
Resources/News
The following two articles are based on the same study
Even With Tenure, Women Are More Likely to Leave Higher Ed by Calli McMurray in The Chronicle of Higher Education
“And even when men and women leave at the same rate, their reasons for doing so are gendered: Early-career women are more likely to leave due to issues with work-life balance, while women later in their careers are more likely to leave because of a hostile work environment. Men tend to cite professional reasons, such as a lack of resources or support.”
Workplace Climate Pushing Female Professors Out by Kathryn Palmer in Inside Higher Ed
“Women are likelier than men to leave the professoriate at all stages of their careers—and workplace climate, not work-life balance, is the biggest reason they leave, a new study finds.”
Creating Inclusive Department Climates in STEM Fields by J. Misra, E. Mickey, E. Kanelee et al.
“Climate studies that measure equity and inclusion among faculty reveal widespread gender and race disparities in higher education. The chilly departmental climate that women and faculty of color experience is typically measured through university-wide surveys. Although inclusion plays out at the department level, research rarely focuses on departments. Drawing from 57 interviews with faculty in 14 science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) departments, we compare experiences with inclusion among faculty in the same departments and rank who differ by race and gender. Women of color perceive their departments as least inclusive, followed by White women, White men, and men of color (largely foreign born). Yet the organizational context of departments strongly shapes faculty perspectives on climate. Analyzing multiple perspectives on the same departments reveals inclusive, improving, and marginalizing departments, as explained by perceptions of representation, collegiality, and democratic leadership. ”
Upcoming Webinar
Towards a Better Understanding of the Experiences of Foreign Born/Foreign Trained Faculty by Dr. Sue Rosser with the ARC Network On Nov 9th at 3pm EST
Rosser’s VVS project was inspired by an NSF grant. Rosser was serving as an external advisor on an ADVANCE grant where the co-PIs were eight women engineers, all of whom were relatively junior in the California State University system, and six of the eight were FB/FT. In interacting with them on the grant and discussing their careers and various issues they were having, Rosser realized the extent to which foreign born/foreign trained (FB/FT) faculty were an understudied group.
“When I looked into it, the existing literature mostly concentrated on men and had been conducted in R1 institutions. There was very little on women FB/FT STEM faculty and almost nothing on those at comprehensive universities or community colleges. I wanted to find out more, and the co-PIs were encouraging me to do so. I’ve served as a member of the ARC Network External Advisory Board since the organization’s inception, so I was well aware of the VVS program, and thought this would be a great project.”
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at advance@clarkson.edu. If you’d like to keep up with information like this regularly, you can follow our Twitter account @ClarksonADVANCE. (Our PI team consists of Marc Christensen, Jen Ball, Laura Ettinger, William Jemison, & Stephanie Schuckers. Our Project Director is Sarah Treptow.)