ADVANCE Catalyst: Faculty Resources and Opportunities for Growth in STEM

Texas Christian University, Fort Worth TX

Investigators

Abstract

The ADVANCE Catalyst grant will support Texas Christian University’s effort to determine how it has implicitly influenced the inequities found in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) departments. By identifying barriers and bridges for women STEM faculty, this project aims to produce institutional change that will impact not only STEM, but also all women faculty at TCU. More broadly, as any institution develops an environment of equity as the norm, graduates of master and doctoral programs will enter their academic careers with a mindset of equity which has the potential to increase the number of women STEM faculty. In addition, systemic change (with an increase in the number of women faculty) has the potential to enhance infrastructure for research and education on our campus. The analysis and resulting five-year strategic plan may ground the work of other private universities with similar demographics and historical contexts. The Texas Christian University ADVANCE Catalyst project is grounded in the robust literature of three academic areas; challenges for women in higher education (especially STEM), intersectionality, and self-studies in higher education. Combining these bodies of work, the focus is on understanding the institution’s role in cultivating challenges and disparate work contexts for intersectional women faculty. This project will consider the other identities and positions held by women/females to understand their positionality. The short-term goal is to conduct a self-study to identify systemic factors that impede equity and inclusion of women in STEM, paying particular attention to the ways intersectional analyses will inform understandings of women’s experiences on campus given that those differences make a material difference in their lives as derived from their diverse identities. A key strength of the project is the qualitative focus on understanding the barriers/bridges when women STEM faculty are seen as a complex being who are more than their gender. Research questions include: (1) What are the barriers and bridges for recruiting, hiring, promoting, and retaining women/female faculty in STEM? (2) What are the most significant intersections for women faculty for recruiting, hiring, promoting, and retaining within STEM? The long-term goal is to implement the five-year strategic plan and document the efficacy of institutional change efforts. 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.