ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women in all levels of faculty and academic administration, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate and culture. The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) proposes an integrated approach to institutional factors that will support the full participation and advancement of women, and provide a model of best practices, in academic science and engineering. Georgia Tech will build upon previous activities and momentum for the advancement of women. The Georgia Tech ADVANCE team includes: the Provost and the Deans, faculty, and campus leaders from four cooperating Colleges: Computing, Engineering, Sciences, and Ivan Allen College, representing a full range of science and engineering fields. Through this project, Georgia Tech will emphasize organizational features and factors that shape outcomes for women in science and engineering, and will clarify and portray the ways in which resources, processes of evaluation, organizational culture and climate, including leadership, and family policies affect the full participation and advancement of women by field, career-stage, and family/parental status. In doing so, they will address critical transitions to senior status, and the meaning of full participation in academic science and engineering. Proposed activities include1) creating an inter-college network of termed professorships that promotes the goals of ADVANCE; 2) institutionalizing a formal training process for committees involved in tenure and promotion; 3) collecting and using resource-allocation data for equity and development of best practices; 4) holding annual retreats of women faculty, provost, deans, and school chairs to review and refine goals and progress; and 5) strengthening and extending the scope and impact of family-friendly practices. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers.