Seeking Solutions Maximizing American Talent by Advancing Women of Color in Academia: Summary of a Conference (2013) / Chapter Skim
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7 Successful Strategies and Resources for Moving Ahead
7 Successful Strategies and Resources for Moving Ahead
Pages 42-66
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From page 42... ...
They articulated the needs visible from their vantage points in academic institutions, research institutes, federal agencies, professional societies, and beyond, and offered their ideas for how institutional structures can evolve to keep pace with the diminishing of bias elsewhere in society. Conference participants spoke of resources available to people in a wide range of positions who have the power to create change, and they cited research done as well as research needed on multiple angles relevant to the challenge of maximizing American talent.
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, but several participants cited a lack of certain types of qualitative data that would elucidate key information about individuals' choices and career patterns, and institutions' climate, practices, and policies. For example, when the data show a drop in the number of women of color between high school graduation and college graduation, and between college graduation and completing a Ph.D., it is not known whether the "missing" individuals began graduate programs and dropped out or whether they did not enroll in the first place.
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Collaboration among professional societies to identify successful strategies for engaging and supporting women of color. Emphasized and noted by many professional societies (e.g., Society of Neuroscience, American Society of Civil Engineers)
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Many attendees agreed that data from all members would greatly assist professional societies' leaders in better recognizing and meeting their memberships' needs. CAREER PATHWAYS AND TRANSITIONS Two research papers were presented at the conference.
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Women faculty report a lower level of job satisfaction than do men, with professional isolation being a common reason for leaving their departments or institutions. Women of color faculty in STEM disciplines experience even greater professional isolation, as they often lack senior colleagues who are women or women of color who can mentor and guide them.
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Paper presented at the Seeking Solutions: Maximizing American Talent by Advancing Women of Color in Academia Conference, June 2012, Washington, D.C. Interventions along the educational and career pathways in STEM disciplines could address the needs of students as well as institutions.
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At the Olin College of Engineering, undergraduate students work full time for six to twelve months with experienced researchers. SACNAS's collaboration with University of California, Santa Cruz, involved an overnight field trip to UC Davis during the 2011 SACNAS National Conference, where students of color visited the campus as well as different research labs and had a conversation with faculty and graduate students.
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page=Tips AWARENESS RAISING OF UNCONSCIOUS BIAS Unconscious gender and racial bias is pervasive in our society and affects, implicitly, the perceptions and decisions of a wide range of people in a wide range of organizations. Raising individuals' awareness of unconscious bias can cause the biases to diminish or dissipate entirely, and several conference participants described how this has taken place at their own institutions.
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In addition, several professional societies advocated: Awareness-raising for issues related to the hiring and advancement of women of color in STEM fields (e.g., American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Astronomical Society, American Physical Society, American Society of Civil Engineers, Biomedical Engineering Society, National Institutes of Health, National Postdoctoral Association, Rutgers Women of Color Scholars)
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The module describes the problem of unconscious bias and references the social psychological literature that demonstrates the effects of unconscious bias. The Gender Bias Learning Project provides animated scenarios to illustrate the four patterns of gender bias.c The Harvard Implicit Association Test is a set of online tests that help people to understand the divergence between what they think they think or believe about others, and what they actually think or believe about others.d Research on the subject has been conducted by the Center for Work-Life Law at University of California, Hastings, including these examples: o "Effective Policies and Practices for Retention and Advancement of Women in Academia"e o "The Economics of Retaining Women"f o "Gender Bias in Academia: Findings from Focus Groups"g ____________ a http://sitemaker.umich.edu/advance/stride_committee b http://sites.jsums.edu/jsuadvance/programs/bias-prevention-training c www.genderbiaslearning.com/stereotypes.html d https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/ e http://worklifelaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Effective-Policies-and-Programs-for-Retention-and Advancement-of-Women-in-Academia.pdf f http://worklifelaw.org/womens-leadership/gender-bias-academia/retaining-women g http://worklifelaw.org/pubs/gender-bias-academia.pdf MENTORING AND SPONSORSHIP51 The sentiment was frequently expressed by conference participants that mentoring and sponsorship are crucial for supporting the success of outstanding women of color along the STEM academic pathway.
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id=7 Professional societies are advocating for and supporting mentoring by: Providing mentoring to women and people from underrepresented groups to encourage talented individuals to pursue STEM coursework (in both high school and college) and careers (e.g., American Political Science Association, American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Society for Microbiology, American Sociological Association, Association for Women in Mathematics)
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. Ensuring that the academic reward structure gives due credit to faculty who serve as mentors (e.g., American Psychological Association, Biomedical Engineering Society)
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It serves as a central hub of networking and resources for women of color in STEM. ____________ a http://sitemaker.umich.edu/advance/mentornet b http://wocrutgers.wix.com/wocsi c www.wocrn.nih.gov d www.minoritypostdoc.org Additionally, several professional societies encouraged the development of networks of women of color, both within disciplines and across disciplines (e.g., American Astronomical Society, American Meteorological Society, American Mathematical Society, American Physical Society, American Political Science Association, Computer Research Association, National 54
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pageid=31 e www.hhmi.org/grants/individuals/gilliam.html f http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/FordFellowships/index.htm INSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATION Several participants described a need for universities to have transparent, clear, and welldefined institutional policies around hiring and promotion of faculty, as well as full disclosure of these policies to postdoctoral candidates. Such policies would help to create an environment where women of color -- and people in other demographic groups -- can freely utilize the policies and exemplary practices without stigma, and also would help to ensure their success by helping them make better-informed career decisions.
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University leadership may request that deans and department chairs review the gaps associated with specific salary differences and consider corrective action. Studies of women faculty considering leaving or who have left an institution.
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It is very valuable for positive changes in university culture and climate to be made visible and transparent. For example, the NSF ADVANCE program at Jackson State University generated a great deal of interest among department chairs wanting to take advantage of the program's trainings on unconscious bias for search committees, interest that was widely expressed even before the first training had been offered because of the program's visibility from the outset.
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Several participants discussed the great value of having non-minority and non-female faculty involved in leading efforts to make departmental climate and policies welcoming to all. Individual conference participants also offered suggestions for actions that could be taken by search committees during recruitment: Greater numbers of underrepresented minorities in the candidate pool.
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Some participants expressed the opinion that the utilization of family leave policies needs to be encouraged for all junior faculty, including men. Other participants believed that family leave should be paid leave and that family leave should be under the purview of the university's human resources division and not at the discretion of department chairs.
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Professional societies encouraged other societies to actively support federal policies and legislation designed to support the success of women and people of color at all levels of education and career development (e.g., American Society of Civil Engineers, Biomedical Engineering Society)
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. o Strengthening support for students during the transition from undergraduate to graduate studies (e.g., American Institute of Physics, American Meteorological Society, American Physical Society, American Political Science Association, National Institutes of Health, Society for Neuroscience)
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model programs that support women of color, carry out research on model programs, and compile lists of exemplary practices across academia, government, and industry (e.g., American Psychological Association, American Society of Engineering Education, Association for Women in Mathematics, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Institutes of Health)
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NSF's Division of Human Resources and Development is partnering with its Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences to develop "the science of broadening participation." Social science and education researchers will be funded to analyze how minority and majority institutions differentiate around the same interventions (e.g., mentoring) , with the intent of helping the individuals who support women of color all along the educational and career pathways.
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The program is designed to help early-career researchers become reviewers and to diversify the pool of reviewers by bringing in scientists from less research-intensive institutions. NASA carries out Title IX compliance reviews of its grantees, designed to ensure that educational programs funded by NASA give equal opportunities to all potential participants and are free of gender discrimination and harassment.b The Title IX Compliance Program also unearthed many successful family leave policies among their grantees.
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NIH's Research on Causal Factors and Interventions that Promote and Support the Careers of Women in Biomedical and Behavioral Science and Engineering, a grant program, includes one grant focused on women of color. In addition, individual conference participants made the following suggestions for actions by federal agencies: Federal funding agencies should consider conducting a robust Title IX compliance review of their grantees to ensure equal representation of women and of minorities, provide that information to university leadership, make a requirement for grant awards that the applicant explain how it will incorporate the principles of Title IX into the program once the grant is received, and consider withdrawing funding if diversity goals are not met.
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In addition, various professional societies called for national organizations to take the following initiatives: Establish a working group focused on faculty success, identifying synergistic goals that support women of color faculty and faculty overall (e.g., American Society of Engineering Education)
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