The goal of this project is to transform the Schools of Science and Engineering at Rice University by increasing the number of women faculty; strengthening the gender-neutrality of the climate in a way that identifies and values the unique skills of each individual and rewards contributions; and enhancing opportunities for women to assume and succeed in leadership positions. Approximately one-third of the faculty in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology areas at Rice will reach normal retirement age within the next 8 years. This should provide an exceptional opportunity to seek to significantly increase the numbers of women faculty, including women of color. The ADVANCE program will capitalize on the strong commitment to gender equity at Rice University and robust linkages to the leadership of the institution to address the key issues of recruitment, retention, and climate that affect women in academia. To achieve this transformation, three specific goals are being pursued:
1. Increase the number of women at Rice Aspiration: Hiring and retention of women faculty at levels that better reflect available pools of Ph.D.s within disciplines. Recruitment Activities: Workshop for Career Success, database of qualified applicants, introducing best recruitment practices, engaging non-traditional entry tracks for women to enter the academy. Retention Activities: Workshop for Faculty Success, database of service and teaching, introducing best practices for chairs and staff. 2. Create a positive and welcoming work environment for women at Rice Aspiration: Women and men report similar levels of satisfaction in climate surveys. Individual Activities: Mentoring, coaching, and reverse mentoring. Institutional Activities: Engagement of department chairs in institutional transformation, updating institutional policies to increase opportunities for success of women faculty, data collection and analysis, and discourse on leadership. 3. Evaluate what works to advance women and share this information Aspiration: Publications in professional journals and materials made readily available. Evaluation: Critical assessment by social scientists to produce publishable data as well as general guidelines for effective action. Dissemination: Use of website and Connexions as mechanisms to provide easy access to materials for adaptation by other institutions and holding a national Workshop on Best Practices.
The success of this program provides the opportunity to distinguish Rice for its excellent climate and for its efforts in highlighting and encouraging achievement of women faculty with model activities that can be adapted and applied to other institutions. The series of initiatives focused on dissemination of developed materials enables project knowledge to be broadly available to other institutions undertaking transformational initiatives.
The over-arching objective of the Rice University NSF ADVANCE Program was to implement a research-driven strategy to transform the Schools of Natural Sciences and Engineering at Rice by increasing the participation and advancement of women faculty. Specific programs were directed to recruitment of women into the tenure-track faculty, retention of faculty (both women and men), creation of a climate that promotes equity in processes and practices, and ensuring dissemination of effective programs. At the heart of these efforts was the intent to institutionalize effective practices to ensure long-term transformation of Rice University as an institution that effectively seeks, recruits, and retains a diverse faculty and to share information on these practices with others. The work initiated by ADVANCE will continue in the new Office of Faculty Development. Our first goal was to increase in the number of women faculty in science and engineering to levels commensurate with not just the national averages but with the percentage of women receiving Ph.D. degrees in specific areas. The percent of tenured and tenure-track (TTT) women in science and engineering at Rice increased from 12% in 2003-04 to 18% in 2011-12. This increased number of women faculty reflects all but two departments at or near the milestone of the national average based on the most recently available data in each discipline, and all but two departments achieved or came very close to a level that was 60% of the female Ph.D. pool relevant to the departmental discipline. Recruitment practices were a specific target of our program to ensure deep understanding of processes that promote equity in searching for new faculty. Chairs of search committees were informed about implicit bias and equitable practices in recruitment, and committee members were also invited to participate in these training opportunities. Participation of all search committee members will be required beginning in 2012-2013 to integrate this training experience into the faculty recruitment process. We developed a workshop for future faculty (Negotiating the Ideal Faculty Position Workshop) that was highly successful. Presentation resources are available on the web for use by other institutions. For this workshop, we developed an accompanying database of applicants that serves as a national resource for search committees and has been utilized for social sciences research to identify best practices for advancing women. The second goal was to create a positive and welcoming work environment for women (and for men). The aspirational outcome was that women and men would report similar levels of satisfaction in climate surveys, assessed at regular intervals to monitor progress. Activities associated with this goal had a broad range — provide workshops for career success, ensure equitable demands on male/female faculty, engage department chairs, update institutional policies, collect and analyze data, and promote understanding of equity and equitable practices by regular discussion. Climate surveys conducted in 2007 and 2010 indicate substantial progress toward our aspirations for work environment, with women and men reporting similar perceptions of positive climate in both years. Other activities included matching a senior faculty member with two junior faculty members ("Triad Mentoring Program") — an exceptionally successful model for providing guidance and information to junior faculty. Chairs were engaged by training in and discussion of the process of institutional transformation and were offered the opportunity to submit mini-grants to support specific activities relevant to advancing junior female faculty. Strengthening and encouraging informal networks ensured that women have information and relationships that facilitate both advancement and a level of comfort. Workshops for Faculty Success were targeted to different subjects and audiences each year and planned by faculty. Institutional policies were reviewed in collaboration with the administration and Faculty Senate and adopted into practice early in the program, and regular lectures on issues related to diversity were open to the entire University. Our final goal was to evaluate and disseminate information on the programs that work. A rich array of information has been posted on-line in various formats, and a cadre of social science research provides perspective on the accomplishments of the program and deepens our understanding of the challenges for women in STEM. This NSF ADVANCE program has significantly altered our processes and our culture: engendering a sense of leadership in faculty members who are not in specific, institutionally-assigned roles, creating a cadre of individuals who are willing to talk about important equity (and other) issues to those in leadership positions, and thereby transforming how we think about what we are doing. The legacy of this program is the Office of Faculty Development that will continue the successful initiatives created by the ADVANCE program and will seek out and create new avenues for ensuring equity and developing the potential of the faculty.
