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Session 2692

Advancing Women in STEM disciplines to Leadership Roles in Academe

Deborah J. O’Bannon, Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Linda S. Garavalia, Department of Psychology, David O. Renz, Bloch School of Business and Public Administration, and S. Marie McCarther, Midwest Center for Non-Profit Leadership University of Missouri-Kansas City

ABSTRACT This paper describes an NSF ADVANCE-funded program designed to facilitate the rise of faculty women to academic leadership positions in NSF-sponsored disciplines. Included are a detailed description of the major components of the Leadership Institute, characteristics of the women faculty members who enrolled in the 4-day program, a summary of participants' leadership activities to date, and an analysis of participants' pre-institute leadership goals. Sixteen women faculty participated in this first of three leadership institutes. Data from these participants regarding the value and effectiveness of the first institute are presented as well as conclusions and plans for future work.

I. INTRODUCTION The purposes of this paper are twofold. First, we describe the rationale behind and the development and implementation of a National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored Leadership Institute for tenured faculty women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Secondly, we describe the participants, their leadership activities prior to attending the Institute, their perceptions of the value of the Institute, and any changes in their leadership activities at the end of the academic year in which the Institute was attended.

The goal of the Leadership Institute is to increase the representation of women in higher education leadership positions (chair, dean, etc.), and support the NSF ADVANCE goal “to facilitate women’s advancement to the highest ranks of academic leadership.” The Institute is limited to women who have already received tenure and are in areas of study supported by NSF (biology/biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, economics, engineering, geology, mathematics, physics, political science, and technology). The Leadership Institute is designed to increase the accessibility of such training for faculty in the Midwest by providing workshops within their geographic area at low cost. The leadership training focuses on the business and leadership skills needed for women to make a successful entry into department chair and dean positions.

A. Women in Academic Leadership Positions in STEM disciplines The published literature is sparse regarding women in leadership positions in the STEM disciplines. The lack of literature is most likely due to the small number of women faculty in STEM and an even smaller number who have risen to leadership positions. Two significant publications by the National Academy of Sciences (Long, 2001 and National Academy of Sciences, 2000) report low numbers, less than 20 percent, of women who earned tenure in Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ©2005, American Society fro Engineering Education

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McCarther, M., & Garavalia, L., & Renz, D., & O'Bannon, D. (2005, June), Advancing Women To Leadership Roles In Academe Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--15140