The NSF ADVANCE Adaptation Program-Towards Hiring, Resources, Inclusion, Value and Excellence (THRIVE) at East Carolina University (ECU) will foster gender equity by addressing biases entrenched in faculty recruitment, hiring, and advancement policies and practices, as well as provide support for the full inclusion and advancement of a diverse faculty. ECU is a research-intensive public university located in rural eastern North Carolina. To surmount ECU’s organizational barriers to gender equity, THRIVE will: 1) implement evidenced-based multicultural competence professional development for faculty and leaders; 2) provide resources and a network of support to ensure that women, particularly those marginalized by race, LGBTQ+ and other minoritized statuses, are recognized and rewarded for their contributions and afforded opportunities for leadership; and 3) establish a set of accountability practices and incentives for faculty, department chairs, and deans, as well as modify policies and procedures in the Faculty Manual and Unit Codes (ECU's bylaws), to more equitably govern hiring, promotion, and tenure processes.
The aims of THRIVE are to: 1) change culture by building a culture of inclusion; 2) create support systems for women in all STEM units; and 3) implement structural change. To meet these goals, we will adapt the Advocates and Allies (A&A) program, initiated at North Dakota State University. A&A takes an intersectional approach to disrupting entrenched hierarchies. Through A&A we will recruit, train, and deploy members of historically privileged groups to interrupt and correct interpersonal and procedural biases. A&A is both adaptable and scalable to universities of different sizes, missions, and regions of influence. It has been successfully contextualized and implemented at several universities including Clarkson, Ohio State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, and University of Wyoming. Using this proven strategy, this ADVANCE Adaptation grant will catalyze sustained, structural change at ECU. In so doing, THRIVE will alter the institutional climate to meet the empirically identified needs of the most marginalized faculty and support all STEM women to advance, lead, and thrive.
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 "Adaptation" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education as well as non-academic, non-profit organizations.
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.
