Career navigation initiatives for women STEM faculty in support of institutional transformation

Abstract

In preparation for creating an institutional transformation strategy, researchers conducted a multi-year self-study (NSF ADVANCE 0811076) to identify career advancement and navigation barriers for current women faculty at a large private university and establish how well the university addresses issues important to the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women STEM faculty. Results of a faculty climate survey, objective human resources data review, and benchmarking led to the identification of barriers in the areas of career navigation, climate, and flexibility in work/life management balance which have been previously reported.1-4 Opportunities for reducing barriers and launching new interventions were assembled into a comprehensive institutional transformation strategy funded in 2012 by NSF ADVANCE (1209115). The goal of this funded project, referred to as AdvanceRIT, increases the representation and advancement of women STEM faculty by creating new interventions, structures, and resources to support faculty career navigation while promoting supportive and aligned cultural change. An additional emphasis adapts interventions to address the needs of key sub-populations including women of color and deaf and hard-of-hearing women faculty. The AdvanceRIT project: 1) refines and strengthens targeted institutional structures; 2) improves the quality of women faculty's work life; 3) aligns institutional, administrative, and informal systems of power and resources to support and sustain progress towards the project goal; and 4) enhances the working environment and support career advancement for women faculty that supports career goals for all faculty. Initiatives within the AdvanceRIT project that are focused on career navigation include the Connectivity Series, Connect Grants Program, Resource Allocation Committee (RAC), Women of Color Connectivity Series and P & T SMARTS, Promotion Package Preparation (P3) Group, AdvanceRIT Team Leadership Development and Team Building Efforts, Dual Career Assistance Program, and Faculty Evaluation Policy/Practice. This paper describes a subset of the AdvanceRIT career navigation activities, outcomes and evaluation, and progress towards sustaining these efforts beyond the length of the current AdvanceRIT funded project.