Dr. Ann Austin spent several days during Spring Break visiting the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she served as the External Evaluator/Consultant for UNL’s National Science Foundation ADVANCE grant. ADVANCE grants are designed to support a university in strengthening the recruitment, retention, and success of women in STEM fields. As the External Evaluator/Consultant, Dr. Austin periodically visits to review the university’s efforts and plans, contribute to the planning pertaining to their ongoing efforts to meet ADVANCE goals, and offer observations, reflections, and suggestions. Dr. Austin enjoys this work as it enables her to link theory and research on organizational change to “real-life” efforts to change an institution’s culture as an academic workplace. Dr. Austin is engaged in on-going learning about organizations and change processes—a learning process which enhances the knowledge, perspectives, and experiences she can bring back into her teaching and work with the students.
During this visit, Dr. Austin also led a workshop for department chairs entitled “Fostering Supportive and Productive Academic Workplaces for a Diverse Faculty: Strategies for Change and Success.” The lively conversation among the chairs during the workshop concerned challenges and opportunities facing chairs as they seek to nurture the development of their units as productive working environments for all faculty members.