ADVANCE Catalyst: Self-Assessment to Establish Equity Among STEM Faculty at a Public Liberal Arts Institution

Christopher Newport University, Newport News VA

Investigators

Abstract

The ADVANCE Catalyst Award to Christopher Newport University will support a two-year self-assessment into systemic inequities related to gender, race/ethnicity, and other aspects of social identity among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty. The project’s goal is to create a professional environment that effectively supports the inclusion and success of women with multiple identities in STEM. The ADVANCE team will take an intersectional approach to evaluate how individuals’ multiple identities impact their professional experiences. The project aims to provide significant insight into workload distribution, resource allocation, professional advancement, concerns regarding inclusivity on campus, and factors that serve as barriers and facilitators to professional success. The project will lead to important understanding of issues related to gender equity and intersectionality for faculty at primarily undergraduate universities. Further, the ADVANCE team will aim to begin implementing targeted changes and develop a strategic plan to address observed inequities and challenges to success. Using a mixed methods approach, specifically a sequential explanatory design, the ADVANCE Catalyst project will examine the institutional context for women in STEM at Christopher Newport University. The project will assess institutional data and survey faculty about their perspectives and campus culture. Themes about women’s roles and identities in their professional lives and productivity identified by analyzing the institutional and survey data will be used to develop questions for interviews with faculty and university administrators. The institutional, survey, and interview data will be used to 1) identify policies and practices that affect satisfaction, promotion, and retention of women and underrepresented minority (URM) faculty and, 2) develop a 5-year data-driven plan to remedy any identified systemic inequities or barriers to success. The creation and implementation of the five-year strategic plan from this grant will support equity among STEM faculty at Christopher Newport University and is intended to have sustainable effects on the recruitment, retention, and promotion of women with multiple identities (e.g., parenthood, sexual orientation/gender identification). The intersectional approach will generate new knowledge about the experiences of STEM faculty and serve as a catalyst for change at Christopher Newport University as well as at other similar institutions. 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 an academic, non-profit institution 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.