ADVANCE Adaptation: University of Wisconsin Oshkosh - Three Campuses, One Institution

University Of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Oshkosh WI

Investigators

Abstract

The project is designed to address gender inequities in STEM departments at a recently integrated, restructured, multi-campus, comprehensive University, which is a unique context for an ADVANCE grant to be implemented. In 2018, the University of Wisconsin (UW) System underwent a restructuring process. As one of the largest systems of public higher education in the nation, with ~165,000 students and 39,000 faculty and staff, the impacts were wide-reaching. The goals of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (UWO) ADVANCE project include: developing a web-based dashboard for tracking progress and transparency on the three campuses; creating awareness of and training to address the climate issues uncovered in the 2021 Climate Survey; conducting an equity review of STEM departmental tenure, renewal, and promotion (TRP) policies; establishing roadmaps for TRP for faculty and instructional staff; and aiding departments in creating new/revised, equitable policies and procedures to improve department climates. The project will use several strategies from NSF ADVANCE awardees, StratEGIC Toolkit, the ADVANCEGeo Transforming the Workplace Project, as well as targeted best practices outlined in the Chancellor’s Study on Work/Life Balance. The project will add to the knowledge base on how to monitor and advance intersectional gender equity in STEM by transforming departmental climates and policies in an organization that has experienced budget cuts, increasing teaching loads, dropping enrollment, tuition freezes, and restructuring. The project results will be strategically disseminated within the UW system which includes similarly situated institutions. In addition, results will be shared through peer-reviewed journals and relevant conference presentations, and to the community, state, and national stakeholders. The proposed activities are intended to address existing inequities in policies and procedures to retain and eventually recruit a higher proportion of diverse STEM faculty and instructors. This is especially urgent work given the anticipation that 25% of tenured STEM faculty will likely retire from UWO within 10-15 years. The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE "Adaptation" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education as well as non-academic, non-profit organizations. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.