OREGON STATE ADVANCE

Oregon State University, Corvallis OR

Investigators

Abstract

ADVANCE Institutional Transformation (IT) awards focus on transforming an entire institutional setting to be a more equitable academic environment for women scientists. Oregon State University (OSU) will create an equitable work environment for women and others from traditionally underrepresented groups through a series of new and unique programs. These programs will focus on educating university faculty and administrators about how gender, race/ethnicity, and social class combine to disadvantage women in academic Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The centerpiece will be a new program called Difference, Power, and Discrimination (DPD) where faculty will be educated on how gender-based inequality in the workplace can be removed through changing our behaviors. Activities aimed at recognizing and reducing discrimination of women and underrepresented groups in STEM can be used at other universities. The goal of OREGON STATE ADVANCE is to transform the institution's climate, structures, and relationships to create an equitable and just workplace. OREGON STATE ADVANCE will institutionalize supportive policies and processes and revolutionize understandings, relationships, and practices by fostering greater comprehension of the roles difference and power play in social institutions. Progression toward this goal will be guided by three major objectives: (1) Recruit, retain, and promote more women STEM faculty across the majority of OSU's Colleges by building upon established initiatives and implementing new policies and programs that will lead to a significant increase of women STEM faculty at OSU; (2) Recognize the importance of gender's intersections with race/ethnicity, social class, and other axes of oppression in affecting women's lives; (3) Develop OSU's Difference, Power, and Discrimination (DPD) faculty development program to provide targeted educational opportunities for STEM faculty and administrators. Theorists have developed a well-defined understanding of systems of oppression. OREGON STATE ADVANCE operationalizes these theories within an effort to transform the institution through changing behavior, relationships, policies, procedures, and structures. Additionally, researchers have found that "sense-making" activities further institutional transformation. This project will examine the impact of utilizing systems of oppression theories as a way of helping administrators and faculty understand the ways difference, power, and privilege construct institutional experiences, disadvantaging women in STEM fields. Additionally, the project assesses the effects of understanding oppression on institutional transformation and an improved climate for women in STEM. In very tangible terms, the availability of OREGON STATE ADVANCE individuals and teams to lead DPD seminars at other institutions and the provision of summer institutes and online support resources offer an opportunity for widespread influence for the project. Additionally, the development of a peer-reviewed online ADVANCE journal will further disseminate ADVANCE findings, as well as other research on women and other underrepresented groups in STEM.