Increasing the Representation of Women Faculty in Stem Departments: What Makes a Difference?

Abstract

Our focus in this paper is on the process of increasing the representation of women in STEM as it occurred in academic departments within a research university explicitly committed to diversifying the faculty in science and engineering fields. We used thematic analysis of interviews with 59 senior faculty drawn from 20 departments to identify forces that enabled or constrained demographic change over 13 years. The accounts by faculty from departments that most increased the representation of women included references to four enabling forces (open recognition of a serious problem coupled with shame about past circumstances; strong leadership on diversity from one or more department chairs; change-enabling features of the departmental and disciplinary context; and proactivity in pursuing diversity). The accounts by faculty from departments that did not increase diversity at all included reference to three constraining forces (viewing other priorities as more important than diversity; external factors that constrain or limit the possibility of change; and unfavorable features of the departmental context). Departments that increased faculty diversity somewhat expressed some enabling and some constraining forces, and omitted some. We discuss the implications of these findings for successful departmental change, particularly in the context of larger institutional change efforts.

Leveraging Promising Practices: Improving the Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention of Diverse & Inclusive Faculty

“…Compensation goes beyond salary and can include resources and support that help individuals make more successful transitions to the institution and faculty life (Tuitt et al, 2007). Supporting the professional needs of potential hires' partners often has been recommended as a way to promote faculty recruitment, particularly for women (Sorcinelli, 2000;Stewart, Malley, & Herzog, 2016;Wolf-Wendel, Twombly, & Rice, 2000).…”

Burdens and benefits of diversity work: emotion management in STEM doctoral students

“…Scholars have long noted formal versus informal organization as a critical distinction in understanding organizational life (Scott and Davis, 2007), but research on diversity efforts in higher education usually centers on organized, official initiatives (Kezar, 2007; Kezar et al , 2008; Milem et al , 2005; Smith, 2009). A strong literature concerns efforts to hire a more diverse faculty, for example especially in STEM disciplines where women and people of color remain severely underrepresented (Burrelli, 2008; Smith, 2009; Smith et al , 2004; Stewart et al , 2004; Stewart et al , 2016; Turner et al , 2008). Other research on formal diversity work examines functional processes with implications for diversity (Alon and Tienda, 2007; Engberg and Hurtado, 2011; Mayhew et al , 2005; Museus and Jayakumar, 2012) or sponsored processes of organizational learning for diversity (Dowd and Bensimon, 2015).…”

An evidence-based faculty recruitment workshop influences departmental hiring practice perceptions among university faculty

“…Moreover, retention of underrepresented faculty can be reduced by factors such as negative department climate ( Jordan and Bilimoria, 2007;Xu, 2008). The current results demonstrate that faculty diversity initiatives such as the FRW can increase faculty members' approval of equitable search practices and intentions to enact them, two key ingredients in sustaining and normalizing the use of equitable search procedures that can ultimately lead to significant increases in faculty diversity (Stewart et al, 2016).…”

“…However, it is important to note in Study 2, the influence of one's own individual FRW attendance was stronger than departmental FRW attendance, perhaps because the proportions of department members who had attended an FRW were larger in Study 2 compared to Study 1. Other factors, such as unmeasured changes in departmental "politics" or leadership may have also played a role ( Jordan and Bilimoria, 2007;Stewart et al, 2016).…”