| NSF Org: |
EES Div. of Equity for Excellence in STEM |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 29, 2008 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 29, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 0810989 |
| Award Instrument: | Cooperative Agreement |
| Program Manager: |
Jessie Dearo
jdearo@nsf.gov (703)292-5350 EES Div. of Equity for Excellence in STEM EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2008 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2017 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $2,863,057.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $3,029,202.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2009 = $583,448.00 FY 2010 = $579,541.00 FY 2011 = $551,600.00 FY 2012 = $538,151.00 FY 2013 = $166,145.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
3640 COLONEL GLENN HWY DAYTON OH US 45435-0002 (937)775-2425 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
3640 COLONEL GLENN HWY DAYTON OH US 45435-0002 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF, CLB-Advance-IT |
| Primary Program Source: |
01000910DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001011DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001112DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001213DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001314DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01000809DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 04001011DB NSF Education & Human Resource 04001112DB NSF Education & Human Resource 04001213DB NSF Education & Human Resource |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
Women are underrepresented in STEM units in Dayton academic institutions, as they are nationwide. Four institutions in the Dayton region with diverse histories, missions and demographics form the LEADER consortium for the purpose of Launching Equity in the Academy across the Dayton Entrepreneurial Region. The institutions include a public doctoral university (Wright State University, host institution), a private Catholic institution (University of Dayton), a minority-serving public institution (Central State University) and a federal graduate institution (Air Force Institute of Technology). All are located in close proximity and collaborate routinely on STEM initiatives. They also share a commitment to regional STEM education, pipeline, and economic development, and recognition that inclusiveness, including directed efforts to recruit and support women in STEM, is a necessary component of that mission. Our ADVANCE collaborative will address these issues through a unique combination of inter-institutional coordination and approaches drawn from social and organizational psychology to improve climate and thereby transform the individual participating institutions.
Intellectual Merit: The underrepresentation of women among academic STEM faculties reflects gender disparities in recruitment, support, and promotion. Underlying the persistence of these problems are features of institutional climate that are rooted in the often nonconscious attitudes and behaviors of individuals. Thus, progress toward gender equity in the STEM academy requires transformation of institutional structures and processes, and transformation of climate. The LEADER consortium will implement models of social/organizational psychology based on gender schemas, persuasion theory, and social contracts, to transform institutional climate in support of STEM women. We will facilitate implementation of strategies proven in prior ADVANCE initiatives to enhance recruitment, retention and advancement of tenure-track STEM women. Implementation of these initiatives within a framework of inter-institutional accountability and administrative architecture (the LEADER Consortium) will catalyze transformation of climate within institutions, thus creating a sustainable women-friendly STEM culture within a region built upon a legacy of STEM innovation.
The specific aims of LEADER are: (a) to conduct a comparative analysis of climate for STEM women across the institutions and thereby identify best practices related to recruitment, retention, and advancement; (b) to initiate gender schema education and a campaign based on persuasion theory that will promote new norms of expectation and thereby facilitate implementation of those best practices; and (c) to implement social contracts across the consortium that promote transparency and accountability for transformation of climate, leading to recruitment, promotion and success of STEM women.
Implementation and Management: Social science research will be undertaken by a social psychologist and a philosopher working in the area of moral psychology and gender theory. Initially climate will be compared across the institutions to inform climate initiatives. At the unit and institutional levels, chairs and faculty equity advisors will implement proposed initiatives with the assistance of a centralized LEADER administrative office. Accountability for achieving benchmarks in recruitment and advancement of women will be centrally monitored using accepted metrics, formative and summative evaluation, and continuous improvement under the direction of the LEADER Council (composed of representatives from each institution) and with external oversight from an Advisory Board.
Broader Impacts: The inter-institutional collaboration and accountability should significantly increase retention and advancement of women in the STEM academy. More broadly, our ADVANCE program is designed to promote equity and that model can be applied to diverse target populations. The consortium includes an HBCU (Central State) and an institution committed to accessibility for the disabled (Wright State); as such, this project should promote significant gains in these two demographic groups within the community of STEM women. Our selection of the acronym "LEADER" recognizes this transferability; advancement of STEM women in the Dayton region today will provide leadership, by example, for efforts toward equity within the academy.
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The LEADER Consortium (Launching Equity Across the Dayton Entrepreneurial Region; http://www.wright.edu/leader/) was supported by the National Science Foundation ADVANCE program to develop a collaborative approach to enhancing the representation and success of STEM women academic faculty in the Dayton, Ohio region. The Consortium included four universities with diverse histories, cultures, and missions: the Air Force Institute of Technology (the graduate school of the Air Force); Central State University (a historically Black university); University of Dayton (a private, Marianist Catholic university); and Wright State University (a mid-size public institution). The premise of the Consortium was that we would learn from each other’s diverse approaches to supporting faculty success, that we would share our successes and challenges and thereby promote progress toward shared objectives, and that we would build a community of women STEM faculty. Among the issues that we sought to address were under-representation of women in selected disciplines and departments, challenges to equitable advancement of women into higher ranks and administration, deficiencies in collection and sharing of data on faculty diversity and professional advancement, and a climate that, for some, did not create an equitable workplace environment.
We addressed these objectives through a combination of initiatives at the individual institutions and collectively across the consortium. High-level committees of upper administrators from the 4 campuses guided initiatives and priorities, shared data, and provided mutual accountability. We instituted Equity Advisors—senior faculty trained to address issues of faculty equity in hiring and workplace environment--at each campus; EAs from the four campuses met collectively, exchanged information on issues and strategies, and fostered communication about opportunities for events, jobs, and collaborations. Consortium-wide programming addressed issues of interest to STEM women faculty, such as grant writing, mentoring, and work/life balance, and brought faculty together across institutions. Training was developed for department chairs, who are central to creating an equitable workplace climate and who came together across the four institutions, and for hiring committees. Social science research supported our actions by investigating the impact of issues, like gender balance in departments, that influence workplace climate. Data collection documenting recruitment, advancement, and representation of men and women in STEM at the four institutions was collected and shared.
The outcomes that we achieved included enhanced recruitment and advancement of women at our institutions and changes to policies and practices that will continue to support progress toward fully equitable STEM departments. Overall across the Consortium, the numbers of women in STEM departments, the numbers promoted to advanced ranks, and the numbers in administrative positions have all increased. Examples of formal institutional policy changes that evolved during these years are policies to support hiring of dual career couples and to ensure proper considerations of diversity and inclusion in hiring. Changes to institutional practices include enhanced training of Department Chairs, college-level policies and institutional programs in support of faculty mentoring, Equity Advisors who continue to promote equitable workplace climate, search committee training, and data collection to highlight successes and challenges in faculty equity. At the level of the Consortium, enhanced lines of communication, and programming that is open to faculty across the partner institutions, support a more integrated regional community of scientists. Importantly, administrators at the four institutions have committed to continue joint efforts to achieve LEADER’s objectives.
Overall, we recognize that administrative turnover creates a challenge to continuity of efforts, and that policy documents are therefore important to implementing sustainable change. Likewise, there are constraints on sharing of resources across institutions. Sustained, intentional effort can overcome those challenges. An integrated community of academic institutions with a commitment to inclusion and equity provides great value to both the individual institutions and the region.
Last Modified: 11/30/2017
Modified by: David L Goldstein
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