ADVANCE Catalyst: Advancing kaulike (equity) focusing on STEM intersectional experiences at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

University Of Hawaii, Honolulu

Investigators

Abstract

As one of six US institutions that is a land-, sea-, space-, and sun-grant institution, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) attracts many STEM professionals who want to explore, innovate, study, share, and educate in our rich ecosystems. Yet, by the numbers, the presence of women in the STEM academic professions is low. STEM fields that include diverse peoples are more effective at achieving optimal solutions, innovating, and competing in the market. The NSF ADVANCE Catalyst at UHM will add to the existing and rich body of knowledge about the intersectional experiences of women in STEM at a geographically-isolated, island-based, indigenous-serving, R1 university. An institutional self-assessment will be conducted to investigate supports and barriers to advancements by women faculty in STEM, pilot potential activities towards an organizational change strategy around tenure and promotion, and develop a five-year STEM faculty equity plan. The project will focus on the experiences of na wāhine or women, in particular Native Hawaiian, Filipino and other underrepresented groups who center their experience as women in STEM academic professions at UHM. The project will inform future gender equity models at other minority- and indigenous-serving institutions, and provide support for their work toward systemic change that improves career outcomes for women faculty in the STEM disciplines. The project takes a feminist, intersectional approach to examine women’s experience in STEM professions, and intends to situate islandness as a mediating variable. Methods include the collection and analysis of institutional data, the implementation of a structured unbiased questionnaire, and focus group interviews. This project will provide UHM with strategic plans for increasing the number of underrepresented, wāhine faculty in the STEM fields through modified recruitment, retention, and promotion practices, including revamping the UHM Tenure and Promotion process, mentoring, and creating pathways to hiring UHM graduates into faculty positions. The project has four major communication strategies including (i) internal communication to executive leadership, deans, directors, STEM faculty, staff, and students, (ii) a website established under the Office of the Provost on the main UHM website with relevant details and links to resources and publications, (iii) sharing lessons learned, products and materials with the ARC Network on a quarterly basis, and (iv) external dissemination through the submission of articles for consideration in high impact journals and presentations at relevant conferences. 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 "Catalyst" awards provide support for institutional equity assessments and the development of five-year faculty equity strategic plans at academic, non-profit institutions of higher education. 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.