The University of Houston (UH), a large urban Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) establishes the Center to ADVANCE UH Faculty. A core strategy will be to "engage the majority" through an ADVANCE Advocates program that engages senior Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) faculty (both male and female) to implement collaboratively UH ADVANCE activities aimed at achieving gender equity in faculty recruitment, retention and advancement. A key innovation is the formation of an ADVANCE Regional Network (ARN), comprising UH and four other ADVANCE institutions in Texas (including one Historically Black College and University and one other HSI). ARN will disseminate information about its programs and will reach out to other institutions in the region to enhance the impact of the National Science Foundation funded projects. Results are expected to be especially helpful to other urban universities, which increasingly serve as engines of innovation and economic development in urban centers and are at the forefront of efforts to increase diversity and gender equity in STEM. ARN will provide a platform through which current ADVANCE Centers in Texas will help other universities (especially predominantly undergraduate institutions and minority serving institutions) in their efforts to promote the success of women STEM faculty.
ADVANCE Center activities will be designed and implemented through four Strategic Initiatives: 1) Recruitment & Retention; 2) Professional Engagement, Development & Advancement; 3) Diversity & Inclusion; and 4) Work-life & Infrastructure. The theoretical framework for this project is based on the Job Demands-Resources model. The social science research team will explore the effects of a faculty-supportive climate at both the individual level and the group level in the context of the Jobs Demands-Resources Model. The results of this research will inform future investments at UH and are expected to be useful for other institutions facing similar challenges related to workforce gender equity. Through ARN, a partnership for mutual learning and dissemination, members will hold joint events, develop an ARN postdoctoral researcher network to enable recruiting among ARN institutions, promote sharing of ADVANCE-related best practices, provide cross institutional mentoring, and address isolation of solo and near-solo women faculty via an e-mentoring network. ARN will disseminate information about its programs and provide a unique platform to reach out to other institutions in the region. ARN will eventually expand to include institutions without ADVANCE funding.