Creating a collaborative cross-institutional culture to support STEM women of color and women with family responsibilities at four midwestern research institutions
- Conference
- Location
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Minneapolis, MN
- Publication Date
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August 23, 2022
- Start Date
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June 26, 2022
- End Date
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June 29, 2022
- Conference Session
- Page Count
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25
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--40419
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/40419
- Download Count
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444
Paper Authors
Canan Bilen-Green North Dakota State University
Canan Bilen-Green is Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Equity at North Dakota State University. She is also Dale Hogoboom Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Wyoming. She holds additional degrees from Middle East Technical University (B.S.), Bilkent University (M.S.), and University of Wyoming (M.S.). Dr. Bilen-Green’s primary teaching and research interest is in quality engineering and management of people systems. She served as lead investigator and director of the National Science Foundation funded ADVANCE FORWARD Institutional Transformation program and the ADVOCATE FORWARD PLAN-D partnership project. Dr. Bilen-Green formed, led, and/or served on various institutional committees including Commission of the Status of Women Faculty, Women with Disabilities Task Force, Promotion to Professor Task Force, and the NDSU Childcare Center Committee.
Cinzia Cervato Iowa State University of Science and Technology
Dr. Cinzia Cervato is the lead PI of the NSF-funded ADVANCE Midwest Partnership project and Morrill Professor of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences. She has served as faculty fellow for early career and term faculty in the Office of the Provost and faculty fellow for strategic planning in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.
She earned a doctor of geology degree from the University of Padova (Italy), and a Doctor of Natural Sciences and Doctor of Science (Habilitation) from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. Her geoscience research focused on geochemistry and sedimentology. She led the CHRONOS project, a collaborative NSF-funded geoinformatics project to connect stratigraphic, sedimentological, and geochemical data.
A Fellow of the Geological Society of America, she has led numerous projects funded by NSF focused on reforming science education especially in large enrollment introductory courses and labs. She was coPI of two Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s awards to transform math and science courses and embed research projects in introductory labs.
Adrienne Minerick Michigan Technological University
Adrienne R. Minerick is Director of ADVANCE at Michigan Tech and Professor of Chemical Engineering. She has served as Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the College of Engineering, Assistant to the Provost for Faculty Development, Dean of the School of Technology, founded the College of Computing, and most recently served as Interim Dean of the Pavlis Honors College.
She has received numerous honors and awards, including the distinction of Fellow of AAAS and ASEE, a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the Raymond W. Fahien Award from the Chemical Engineering Division of ASEE, and Michigan Tech's Fredrick D. Williams Instructional Innovation Award. She and her students have published over 100 archival journal publications, book chapters, or proceedings articles and earned 23 best paper/presentation awards.
Adrienne previously served as the President of the AES Electrophoresis Society and on the ASEE's Board of Directors as First Vice President and Professional Interest Council I Chair. She also chaired ASEE's National Diversity Committee. Her research and service interests regularly intersect and involve underserved individuals with an emphasis on research experiences to increase engagement and retention.
Ann Burnett North Dakota State University
Ann Burnett is Professor Emerita of Communication at North Dakota State University. Burnett holds a Ph.D. degree in Communication from the University of Utah and an M.A. degree in Communication from the University of Northern Colorado.
Roger Green North Dakota State University
Dr. Roger Green is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at North Dakota State University, where he teaches, conducts signal processing research, and serves as Undergraduate Program Coordinator. Since its inception in 2008, Dr. Green has been a lead member of the NDSU Advance FORWARD Advocates, a group of male faculty dedicated to effecting departmental and institutional change in support of gender equality. As part of this group, he regularly trains men, at NDSU and other institutions, to better serve as gender equity allies. Dr. Green received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wyoming.
Carla Koretsky
Carla M. Koretsky earned a B.A. degree in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis in 1993, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Johns Hopkins University in 1995 and 1998, respectively. She currently serves as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Western Michigan University and Professor of Geological and Environmental Sciences. She has previously served as Associate Dean and Dean of the Lee Honors College at Western Michigan. She has served as co-lead of the WMU Aspire Change Alliance and the WMU lead of the NSF ADVANCE Joining Forces Midwest Partnership grant.
She has received numerous awards and honors including the Michigan ACE Network Distinguished Woman in Higher Education Leadership Award; the Geochemical Society Distinguished Service Award; the WMU Excellence in Diversity Rising Star Award; the WMU College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Achievement in Teaching Award; and the WMU Emerging Scholar Award. She was named a 2019 Crain’s Notable Women in STEM, and is the recipient of numerous grants from state and federal agencies such as the Department of Energy, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the Office of Naval Research, and the National Science Foundation, including an NSF CAREER award.
David Wahl Iowa State University of Science and Technology
David W. Wahl is a social psychologist currently working as a research associate with the ADVANCE Midwest Partnership at Iowa State University.
Lori Wingate Western Michigan University
D. Raj Raman Iowa State University of Science and Technology
D. Raj Raman is Morrill Professor of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department at Iowa State University. Raman holds a BS in Electrical Engineering (RIT, 1986) and doctorate in Agricultural and Biological Engineering (Cornell University, 1994); prior to coming to Iowa State University (ISU), he was assistant/associate professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, from 1993 – 2005. Raman’s research has encompassed waste management, insect detection, and technoeconomic modelling of bioprocessing and waste-treatment systems. He has developed new graduate and undergraduate degree programs, overseen accreditation of highly-ranked engineering degree programs at ISU, and taught courses across the curriculum, from first-year engineering problem solving & computing, to capstone design. Over 220 students have participated in summer research programs (e.g., NSF REU sites) that he has directed, with two of these sites associated with large externally-funded interdisciplinary research efforts led by ISU. He has contributed to the literature in areas of curriculum, student risk characterization, and mentoring, and has been recognized with teaching honors including the Farrall Young Educator Award and the Massey-Ferguson Gold Medal Teaching Award – both national teaching awards given by the ASABE. Since 2017, Raman has worked closely with Dr. Ken Moore (Distinguished Professor of Agronomy) on a transdisciplinary project focused on perennial groundcover. In fall 2021, that effort (RegenPGC) received $10M in funding in the form of Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant program from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and Raman now serves as Project Director for RegenPGC.
Sonia Goltz
Sonia Goltz is Mickus Endowed Faculty Fellow of Business Impact in the College of Business at Michigan Tech and teaches organizational behavior and organizational change. She received her Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Purdue University. Her research examines topics such as organizational change, social power and coercion, and gender equity and has been published in business and applied social sciences journals including: Human Relations, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Decision Sciences, Journal of Small Business Management, and Journal of Organizational Behavior Management. She is a co-PI on Michigan Tech’s NSF ADVANCE Adaptation grant, a collaborator on the NSF ADVANCE Midwest Partnership grant led by Iowa State, and received Michigan Tech’s diversity award in 2021.
Patricia Sotirin
Dr. Patricia Sotirin is a Research Professor in the Department of Humanities at Michigan Tech. She earned a Ph.D. in Communication from Purdue University and her research areas include interpretive qualitative methods, feminist theory, embodied gender in organizations, and kinship communication. She has co-authored or co-edited six books on such topics as poststructuralist qualitative research; feminist resilience; feminist vigilance; women on the homefront; aunts in popular culture and aunt/niece/nephew communication. Her published articles include analyses of dual career issues, embodiment in change management, DEI training, and organizational resistance. She has published in such journals as the Journal of Organizational Change Management; Qualitative Inquiry; Review of Higher Education; Organization Management Journal; Journal of Social and Personal Relationships; and Organization: The Critical Journal of Organization, Theory, and Society. She has been President of the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender (OSCLG) and Editor of Women & Language. She has been on over fifty graduate committees and received an Outstanding Mentor Award from OSCLG. She is a Co-PI on an NSF ADVANCE Adaptation grant at Michigan Technological University.
Abstract
NSF ADVANCE has been instrumental in supporting institutional practices leading to the increased representation of women in STEM. However, research suggests institutional culture and practices evolve slowly, and much progress remains to create a collaborative and supportive work environment where women scientists, mathematicians, and engineers can thrive, particularly those with intersectional identities, including women of color and women with caregiving responsibilities. A partnership of four midwestern research universities joined together in late 2019 to adapt, design, implement, and assess the impact of a coordinated suite of programs intended to enhance the career success of women and underrepresented STEM faculty. The programs promote mentoring, advocacy, and informed and intentional leadership as integral to campus culture, and foster cross-institutional data-based collaboration and community. This paper summarizes the programs designed and implemented to improve retention and job satisfaction of women in STEM fields with a focus on the intersectionalities of women of color and women with family responsibilities, including navigating the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, by creating support networks for these faculty. The suite of programs, based on efforts originally initiated at each of these institutions, include cross-institutional mentoring communities, male advocacy for gender equity, cross-institutional department chair training and mentoring, and a regional women’s caucus for the dissemination of gender equity research and practices. Implementations range from on-site male advocacy workshops to cross-institutional mentoring communities of faculty with shared intersectional identities representing diverse disciplines and rank meeting virtually biweekly. Professional development for department chairs focuses on common issues and challenges on topics such as performance evaluation in a time of COVID, departmental culture, flexible faculty policies, and bullying, using case studies to foster small group discussions, problem-solving, and community building. A regional women’s caucus virtually disseminates experiences, research findings, best practices, and success stories of women in STEM fields through film events, panel discussions, interactive workshops, and presentations. Quantitative and qualitative assessment of each program and event, with a focus on integration and collaboration, provides feedback and guides further implementation phases. The ultimate goal of the project is implementing and sustaining this cross-institutional synergy via documentation of the ways in which it reduces isolation for women faculty, in particular those with these intersectional identities, transforms academic cultures and practices to encourage awareness, advocacy, and systemic change, and thereby causes women faculty to be more optimistic about their futures in academia.
Bilen-Green, C., & Cervato, C., & Minerick, A., & Burnett, A., & Green, R., & Koretsky, C., & Wahl, D., & Wingate, L., & Raman, D. R., & Goltz, S., & Sotirin, P. (2022, August), Creating a collaborative cross-institutional culture to support STEM women of color and women with family responsibilities at four midwestern research institutions Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40419
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