Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), based on results of a prior ADVANCE award, will implement an ADVANCE PAID project that focuses on gender equity transformation at five regional public institutions of higher education in northern Ohio while continuing institutional transformation at CWRU. Using a dual (individual and organizational) focus, this project will also adapt successful practices and models to educate and empower faculty and administrative leaders in each university to undertake customized institutional transformation.
Intellectual Merit. The proposed project, IDEAL, will encourage participating individuals and institutions to review assumptions and practices regarding women?s professional roles in S&E disciplines, and provide resources to apply those lessons to transform their academic cultures. It will call for rigorous organizational self-examination and the formation of ameliorative strategies based on evidence. It is envisaged that this project will create an intercollegiate regional community to share information and ideas on achieving improved gender participation and equity in academic STEM disciplines. This project will allow for the dissemination of ideas and practices from NSF ADVANCE institutions and allow further exploration of how to engender effective transformational change at universities.
Broader Impact. Because of the institution?s past experiences from a previous ADVANCE IT award, this project is well poised to affect behavior and policy at six institutions in the northern Ohio region, and, subsequently, position those institutions to stimulate change across post-secondary education in the entire state of Ohio.
