South Dakota WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) Faculty: A Future of Excellence is an IT-START project designed to acquire and analyze baseline data that will form the foundation of a transformative plan to advance the quality of the work environment for women faculty in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSMT), other South Dakota institutions and institutions that share attributes with SDSMT. The attributes that differentiate SDSMT from other ADVANCE institutions include (but are not limited to) size, specialty and geographic isolation. To accomplish this work, the investigative team will collect and analyze data from SDSMT, other public, private, and tribal colleges and universities in South Dakota, the state of South Dakota, institutions outside of the state of South Dakota with similar attributes, and current best practices. The investigative team will link with SDSMT?s Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program to leverage the goals of the work and the WISE program. In particular, the objectives of the ?South Dakota WISE Faculty: A Future of Excellence? project are to:
1. Gather data to determine the social, environmental, and attitudinal factors affecting the representation (recruitment and retention) of women, including Native American women, in faculty and administrative positions at SDSMT and other institutions of higher education in South Dakota.
2. Determine the extent to which this data is extendible to other institutions that share characteristics of SDSMT and the other colleges and universities in South Dakota, including (but not limited to): a) PUIs that are specialty engineering and science institutions, and b) Geographically isolated institutions.
3. Develop a plan for an ADVANCE IT (Institutional Transformation) proposal that includes programming that is scalable and extendible and that addresses the primary factors limiting representation at all levels (recruitment, retention and advancement). The ADVANCE Institutional Transformation proposal would aim to provide opportunities for all of the colleges and universities in the State of South Dakota and to be extendible to institutions with similar attributes as SDSMT.
The work in this planning grant will allow the investigative team to gather and analyze baseline data on (1) the state of women STEM faculty in South Dakota and similar institutions and (2) the needs of these faculty as perceived by both the faculty and the administration of the colleges and universities where they work. The intellectual merit of this project will be the identification of those factors that are common to STEM faculty in South Dakota and Tribal Institutions, PUIs that are science and engineering specialty institutions and, geographically isolated institutions that affect the recruitment, retention and advancement of a diverse faculty. The evaluation of this data provides an evidence-based approach to development of programming and cultural changes at institutions for which methods proven to be effective at urban or suburban comprehensive institutions and DGIs do not meet the particular demographic or social needs of institutions with the attributes listed above.
The broader impacts of the South Dakota WISE Faculty: A Future of Excellence proposal include: (1)The expected transferability of the lessons learned to other institutions who share some or all of the demographic features of SDSMT and other colleges and universities in South Dakota; (2) increase in linkages between South Dakota institutions for collaborative efforts to better all of the institutions?? campus climates and recruitment and retention efforts for women STEM faculty. Collaborative efforts significantly increase the ability of the colleges and universities to leverage their resources and create critical mass; and (3)strengthening and increasing the pipeline of women, including Native American women, in STEM fields by strengthening the ability of colleges and universities in South Dakota to attract, recruit, and retain women faculty in STEM fields.
