The goals of the institutional transformation initiative at Michigan State University (MSU), Advancing Diversity through Alignment of Policies and Procedures (ADAPP), are to increase the number of women recruited in the Colleges of Natural Science, Social Science and Engineering, improve their retention and advancement, and improve the climate for women in these three Colleges. These goals address issues that have been identified as barriers for women in STEM disciplines both nationally and by women at MSU. We will accomplish these goals by implementing specific structures and practices that are components of a strategic human resource management (SHRM) methodology. The initiatives will focus on aligning strategic goals of units and colleges with the university-wide value of diversity and on implementing objective evaluation criteria for recruitment, advancement and retention in order to reduce bias related to informal and subjective processes. Practically, this involves integrating goals, policies and practices so that critical behaviors, attitudes, and outcomes that promote diversity are consistently reinforced and rewarded. Research supports the effectiveness of the SHRM approach, and it is widely viewed as a "best practice" for promoting desired behavior and attitudes, increasing accountability, and reducing bias in faculty employment decisions. Yet, no previous NSF Institutional Transformation ADVANCE grant has adopted a SHRM model as the operational framework to advance project goals. Thus, MSU will adopt this approach for implementing initiatives designed to advance women in STEM disciplines. The overall goals will be achieved by integrating the following policies and practices:
- developing and clearly communicating strategic goals at the department- and college-levels in recruiting and supporting a diverse faculty; - defining and clearly communicating objective criteria to be used during recruitment, annual reviews, promotion and tenure processes and retention negotiations that reflect these strategic goals; - providing workshops to assist faculty and department chairs in developing and implementing goals and objective criteria; - monitoring and evaluating the application of these criteria to the processes of faculty recruitment and advancement, in part by implementing an electronic human resource information system and by appointing trained diversity officers to monitor progress; - providing assistance to units in designing mentoring programs that reflect such criteria; - determining the overall impact of these processes on the stated goals by measuring the level of recruitment, retention and advancement of women faculty and by surveying faculty in STEM disciplines to determine the perceived impact of these processes on faculty recruitment and advancement and on faculty climate; and finally - recognizing and acknowledging successful units in tangible ways, such as supporting nominations for the annual MSU Excellence in Diversity award.
Intellectual Merit: Our project will implement and test a unique conceptual model addressing how increased structure of employment practices and their alignment with the diversity value, will effect change in the recruitment, retention and advancement of women and create a sustainable positive for women. The project outcomes will indicate if specific increases in structure will bring about changes in the work environment and perceived climate by improving communication, increasing transparency, providing consistency and adding measures of accountability in the employment processes. The methods are novel, and such an ADVANCE project has not been carried out at a large research university.
The Broader Impact can occur when these improved structures and policies are applied to all steps in the STEM academic career ladder, to other academic positions and to other disciplinary areas. This model is proposed to result in an improved climate for women at all levels and, if successful, will be disseminated for adoption by other institutions.
In 2008, Michigan State University was awarded a $3.98 million Institutional Transformation grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE Program for its program, Advancing Diversity through the Alignment of Policies and Practices (ADAPP). A central goal of the NSF ADVANCE program is to strengthen the scientific workforce through increased inclusion of women in careers involving science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Research from business has shown that by developing objective, transparent criteria and practices and consistently applying them across individuals and units, the potential for intended and unintended bias is reduced. MSU sought to apply these best practices to academic human resources in a university, with special attention paid to the impact of policy on academic departments. We recognized that departments are critical sites in which recruiting, evaluation, and promotion decisions are initiated and where climate is most directly experienced by MSU faculty members. Special attention was paid to three colleges with the largest number of STEM or STEM-related faculty: Colleges of Engineering, Natural Science, and Social Science. Grant Outcomes: Findings of the external policy analysis indicated that at the end of the grant period, department/unit-level Annual Review (AR) and Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure (RPT) policies and procedures were closely aligned with best practices. Between 2011 and 2013, policy analysis found that the clarity and accessibility of policies and procedures for faculty AR and RPT in the three ADAPP colleges improved dramatically. Findings from a university-wide Work Environment Survey revealed that ADAPP colleges showed no significant differences in perception between women and men faculty regarding the transparency of recruitment, hiring, AR, and RPT processes within their respective departments/units. In the university more broadly, women agreed less than men that policies around recruitment, hiring, AR or RPT were transparent and objective. This suggests that grant-related efforts to address in the ADAPP colleges have shown some positive impact. After our 6-year ADAPP effort, we are seeing positive impacts in these areas: Between 2008 and 2013, the percentage of women holding tenured and tenure-track faculty positions at MSU increased in all NSF STEM and SBS department/unit categories, with women gaining 2.4% of the available faculty positions in STEM departments/units and 2.5% of available positions in SBS departments/units. Between Year 4 and Year 5 of the ADAPP initiative, the percentage of women faculty in STEM increased by 1.7%, the largest single-year gain since project inception. Retention rates of women assistant professors hired between 2008 and 2013 were significantly improved. In previous cohorts (between 1981 and 2007), women assistant professors had higher attrition rates than did men. During the ADAPP initiative, retention rates for both men and women were improved compared to previous cohorts. A Work Environment Survey (WES), administered in 2009 and again in 2013, indicated both positive and negative changes in MSU’s work culture for faculty. The WES data indicate that all-university faculty were less satisfied with a number of aspects of work life in 2013 than they were in 2009, but the gap between women’s and men’s perceptions of work life appeared to be closing in the ADAPP colleges, while the gender gap remained wide at the university-level. Responses to the 2013 survey from women faculty across the university indicated that they held less favorable perceptions of work life balance issues, workplace incivility, and general beliefs and attitudes about work life in their departments/units than did their male colleagues, though, in 2013, women faculty in the three ADAPP colleges, compared to non-ADAPP faculty, reported that the work life balance culture was better within their departments/units. MSU also developed two noteworthy initiatives to support and continue the grant efforts: The Faculty Excellence Advocate (FEA) program supports college-level policy efforts in several areas. Initially tested in the three ADAPP colleges, the program was expanded university-wide, and currently each college has a faculty-member/FEA who serves as consultant in promoting objectivity, alignment, and best practices in hiring and recruitment, RPT, and mentoring. The individuals in these positions receive ongoing training and development to and serve as change agents within their respective colleges around issues of diversity and inclusion. MSU is also implementing a university-wide data system to support the grant goals of objective, alignment, and transparency. The Academic Profile Project (APP) will ensure that data used in academic human resources is uniform, easily accessible, and objective. Previously, each college collected these data (i.e. publications, awards, grants, teaching) in different ways; the APP system will help faculty members save time by centralizing a database to track accomplishments, but also ensure that all faculty members are evaluated with the same criteria, drawn from the same source data.
