Journal Article: ADVANCing the Agenda for Gender Equity

September 2, 2015

Change: Ā The Magazine of Higher Learning
Volume 47, Issue 4, 2015

By Sandra L. Laursen, Ann E. Austin, Melissa Soto, and Dalinda Martinez

Sandra Laursen (sandra.laursen@colorado.edu) is a senior research associate and co-directorĀ of Ethnography & Evaluation Research, University of Colorado Boulder. Ann E.Ā Austin (aaustin@msu.edu) is a professor in the Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education programĀ at Michigan State University. Laursen and Austin are co-investigators on a researchĀ study of organizational-change strategies in ADVANCE Institutional Transformation (IT)Ā projects. Melissa Soto (soto@aacu.org) and Dalinda Martinez (dali@msu.edu) were bothĀ involved in this research as graduate students. Soto is now director for undergraduateĀ STEM education at the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and MartinezĀ is a doctoral student in higher education at Michigan State.

In Short:

  • To increase the involvement of women in STEM fi elds requiresĀ not just supporting individual women but the system-wide identification and removal of gender biases in institutional policies andĀ processes.
  • NSFā€™s ADVANCE IT program has led to the development of a portfolioĀ of interventions that campuses can adapt to their own contexts toĀ advance the careers of STEM women. These include faculty development,Ā grants to individual faculty, mentoring and networking, theĀ development of leaders, inclusive recruiting and hiring, equitableĀ tenure and promotion policies, strengthened accountability, flexibleĀ work arrangements, family-friendly accommodations, support forĀ dual-career couples, improved departmental climates, invitationsĀ to visiting female scholars, and enhanced visibility for women andĀ womenā€™s issues.
  • Many of these strategies address the needs of men and women inĀ all disciplines. Moreover, the same intervention can achieve multipleĀ goals, and the same general goal can be addressed in multiple ways.
  • The StratEGIC Toolkitā€”Strategies for Effecting Gender Equity andĀ Institutional Change (www.strategicToolkit.org)ā€”distills lessonsĀ learned about 13 main types of interventions, each presented in theĀ form of a Strategic Intervention Brief.

Click this link to access the full article.