Award Abstract # 1935960
ADVANCE Partnership: Joining Forces - A Midwestern Partnership for STEM Faculty Success

NSF Org: EES
Div. of Equity for Excellence in STEM
Recipient: IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Initial Amendment Date: July 25, 2019
Latest Amendment Date: May 11, 2023
Award Number: 1935960
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
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: October 1, 2019
End Date: September 30, 2024 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $418,802.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $501,757.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2019 = $418,802.00
FY 2022 = $82,955.00
History of Investigator:
  • Cinzia Cervato (Principal Investigator)
    cinzia@iastate.edu
  • Jo Powell-Coffman (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Gul Kremer (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • D Raj Raman (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Dawn Bratsch-Prince (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: Iowa State University
1350 BEARDSHEAR HALL
AMES
IA  US  50011-2103
(515)294-5225
Sponsor Congressional District: 04
Primary Place of Performance: Iowa State University
1138 Pearson Hall, ISU
Ames
IA  US  50011-2105
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
04
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): DQDBM7FGJPC5
Parent UEI: DQDBM7FGJPC5
NSF Program(s): ADVANCE,
ADVANCE
Primary Program Source: 01001920DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
04002223DB NSF Education & Human Resource
Program Reference Code(s): 7568, 7650
Program Element Code(s): 016y00, 016Y00
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.076

ABSTRACT

This ADVANCE Partnership project is a collaboration among four research-intensive midwestern institutions: Iowa State University, North Dakota State University Fargo, Western Michigan University, and Michigan Technological University. Programs developed with prior ADVANCE funding will be integrated into a coordinated and portable package, the Integrated Equity Support (IES) system. The IES includes cross-institutional components including: mentoring communities, male advocates and allies, and department chair professional development. In addition, the IES will be complemented and supported with the development of a IES Caucus to facilitate sharing and community building. The IES Caucus will expand to include additional institutional members increasing the reach of the Partnership project beyond the original four institutions.

The project will be implemented in three phases over the duration of the project. In the first year, three of the partner universities will adapt and adjust existing programs for IES cross-institutional collaborations; in the second and third years the IES will be implemented as a pilot program at Western Michigan University; in the third year, the partner institutions will disseminate the program. The long-term outcome of this project is expected to be increased retention and career advancement at midwestern universities of underrepresented women and women with family responsibilities in STEM department.

The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE "Partnership" awards provide support to collaborations among STEM professional societies and academic and non-academic non-profit organizations designed to broaden the implementation of evidence-based equity strategies and have a national or regional reach.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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Cervato, C and Bilen_Green, C and Johnson, CA and Koretsky, C and Minerick, A "External Review Letters in Promotion and Tenure: Recommendations for Chairs" The Department chair , v.34 , 2024 Citation Details
Cervato, C. and Bilen-Green, C. and Koretsky, C. and Minerick, A. and Wahl, D. and Burnett, A. and Wingate, L. and Green, R. and Raman, R. and Okudan-Kremer, G. and Goltz, S. and Sotirin, P. "Creating a collaborative cross-institutional culture to support STEM women of color and women with family responsibilities at four midwestern research institutions." Zone 1 Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education , 2022 Citation Details
Cervato, Cinzia and Bilen-Green, Canan and Cockrell, Malia and Johnson, Carrie Ann and Koretsky, Carla and Minerick, Adrienne "External promotion and tenure review letters at research-intensive institutions: A critical communication analysis of external review practices" ADVANCE Journal , v.4 , 2024 https://doi.org/10.5399/osu/ADVJRNL.4.2.1 Citation Details
Cervato, Cinzia and Peterson, Stephanie and Johnson, Carrie_Ann and Bilen-Green, Canan and Koretsky, Carla and Minerick, Adrienne and Kremer, Gul_Okudan "Department Chairs as Change Agents: A Virtual Cross-Institutional Professional Development Model for Chairs" Innovative Higher Education , v.50 , 2024 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-024-09714-8 Citation Details
Minerick, A. and Cervato, C. and Goltz, S. and Bilen-Green, C. and Rouleau, M. and Wahl, D. and Sotirin, P. "Cross-Institutional Mentoring Communities Program." Zone 1 Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education , 2022 Citation Details
Minerick, A.R. and Cervato, C. and Bilen-Green, C. and Koretsky, C. and Rouleau, M. "Cross-Institutional Mentoring Communities: a virtual mentoring model during COVID-19." The Chronicle of Mentoring and Coaching , v.6 , 2022 Citation Details

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.

Project Goals:

  1. Increase Retention of URWM: Focus on keeping underrepresented women minority faculty within academic institutions.

  2. Support Career Progress for WFC: Provide resources and support for women faculty who are family caregivers.

  3. Enhance Satisfaction and Success of URWM and WFC: Improve overall job satisfaction and career success for these groups.

  4. Stimulate Advocacy for Systemic Change: Raise awareness and promote changes in academic systems to support these faculty members.

  5. Create Exportable Programs: Develop programs that can be adapted by other regional universities to support, retain, and advance URWM and WFC.

Major Accomplishments:

  • Publications and Presentations: Eight peer-reviewed papers and 13 conference presentations at a national conference, and three invited presentations.

  • COVID-19 Impact Study: Ongoing research on how the pandemic affected proposal submissions by women faculty.

  • Department Chair Professional Development Workshops: Conducted eight workshops for department chairs between fall 2020 and fall 2023 attended by close to 700 chairs and administrators.

  • Regional Women Caucus: Nineteen virtual workshops were offered between fall 2020 and fall 2023 that were attended by over 1,000 faculty, staff, and students.

  • Mentoring Communities: Cross-Institutional Mentoring Communities involved more than 60 faculty between summer 2020 and Spring 2024.

  • Reports and Reviews: Biannual reports and annual meetings with the external advisory board; one formative and one final external review conducted by Dr. Mariko Chang.

  • Advocacy and Support: Advocates groups were established and Ally workshops offered at ISU and WMU.

Personnel Involvement:

  • Undergraduates: Six ISU undergraduate students in statistics, data science, bioinformatics, and sociology and one graduate students interned with the project between fall 2021 and spring 2024 and were involved in research studies related to the projects.

  • Postdocs: Two postdoctoral scholars worked on the project between summer 2020 and spring 2024..

Research Findings:

  • Analysis of 79 external review letter templates identified potential biases, leading to two publications and two presentations to advocate for fairer practices.

  • The analysis of more than 30,000 proposals submitted at ISU between 2017 and 2022 to test the hypothesis that COVID impacted women faculty and faculty of color’s proposal submission is ongoing with plans to publish the results in 2024.

Key Outcomes:

  • Community Building: Continued data analysis from workshops to expand support for women faculty through mentoring and virtual programs.

  • Gender Bias Education: Over 1,000 faculty, staff, and administrators educated on gender bias in STEM.

  • Dissemination Efforts: The project resulted in eight peer-reviewed publications, four conference sessions and panels, and 13 conference presentations.

  • COVID Impact Study Publication: Plan to publish the results of the COVID-19 impact study on proposal submissions.

Websites:

Summary: This project has made significant strides in supporting and advancing the careers of underrepresented women minority faculty and women faculty caregivers. Through comprehensive research, professional development workshops, mentoring communities, and active dissemination efforts, the project has fostered a supportive community and advocated for systemic changes in academia. The project's impact is evident in the increased awareness and adoption of fairer practices in promotion and tenure processes and the resilience demonstrated by women and faculty of color during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

 


Last Modified: 09/30/2024
Modified by: Cinzia Cervato

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