Institutional Developing Excellence in Academic Leadership-National (IDEAL-N)

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland OH

Investigators

Abstract

The PLAN-IHE funding track is designed to expand the application of proven-successful gender-equity initiatives for STEM faculty through networked adaptation of a specific program or initiative. Careful evaluation is expected to expand understanding of such initiatives across institutions and institution types. The Institutions Developing Excellence in Academic Leadership-National (IDEAL-N) project will build a learning community among 10 research universities in Ohio and Pennsylvania to promote gender equality in academic Science & Engineering (S&E) disciplines. The 10 partner universities include Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), Bowling Green State University, Cleveland State University, Kent State University, University of Akron and University of Toledo and Carnegie Mellon University, Duquesne University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania and University of Pittsburgh. IDEAL-N will build on the successful transformations and outcomes achieved in the earlier CWRU ADVANCE project, IDEAL. IDEAL-N is comprised of four elements: leadership enhancement training, annual change projects, plenary conferences, and development of an equity index. The creation of this institutional learning community will benefit not only the practices and policies of the individual universities, but will also inform the nation's efforts to foster science and technology careers, stimulate and redirect economic development, and reverse the drain of talent from academic S&E. IDEAL-N targets senior administrators as the locus of change and provides intensified educational, leadership development, and support components. The project will employ an innovative technology platform, using Cisco's TelePresence, to re-imagine and stimulate cost-effective information dissemination and networking for a national audience. The project will identify multilevel Change Implementation Teams at each university to lead institutional transformation that include: a co-director, a change leader, and a social science faculty member. The co-director will be a senior administrator at the Provost's Office level. The change leader will be a department chair or senior faculty leader in an S&E department. A social scientist is included to help translate social science theory and the promising practice literature on gender equity into actionable projects within S&E disciplines. Annual change projects focused around a key institutional transformation theme will be implemented at each institution over three years. Each Change Implementation Team will select a transformational theme/issue/need relevant to their campus to improve gender equity in a S&E department. The change projects will vary in complexity and scope, but they will directly address the transformational theme within the IDEAL-N departments selected, and directly or indirectly address the larger institution. Building on another extremely successful element of the previous IDEAL project, three plenary conferences will be held during the early summer of each year of IDEAL-N. These conferences will use the TelePresence platform to gather senior academic leaders from the partner institutions, Change Implementation Team members, and national experts on academic leadership and gender equity to exchange knowledge and design solutions to effect change. Based on the research and experience of previous ADVANCE projects, as well as from the literature on promoting gender equity in academic careers, IDEAL-N will develop an innovative Gender Equity Index to serve as an assessment and benchmarking tool for academic institutions. The criteria for this index will include best practices to promote gender diversity, equity, and inclusion, with a special focus on disabled and underrepresented racial and ethnic minority women faculty. The NSF ADVANCE Partnerships for Learning and Adaptation Networks (PLAN) program track supports projects that promote the adaptation and implementation of previously effective ADVANCE programs in new contexts and the testing of innovative strategies to promote the participation, success, and advancement of women in STEM academic careers. PLAN projects also contribute to the knowledge base on gender equity in academic careers.