Promoting gender diversity in STEM faculty through leadership development

Abstract

Purpose The advancement of equity, diversity and inclusion in higher education is dependent on institutional culture changes in academia. Faculty equity, diversity and inclusion efforts must engage departmental leadership. The purpose of this paper is to describe the growth and expansion of the ADVANCE leadership program at the University of Washington (UW) for department chairs that was designed to provide department chairs the skills, community and information needed to be agents of change within the academy. Design/methodology/approach The paper chronicles the program’s growth from a campus-based workshop program to national workshops (LEAD) to a web-based toolkit (LiY!) to support institutions in running their own UW ADVANCE-inspired leadership workshops. Findings The paper demonstrates the success of each growth stage and the expansion of program impact. Practical implications The paper offers recommendations for growing a model from a local to national scale and adapting the described leadership development model at other institutions. Originality/value The paper shares a successful model for equipping department chairs to be advocates of gender equity, diversity and inclusion in STEM and to be change agents in higher education.

Equity/Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) in Universities: The Case of Disabled People

“…In the EDI academic literature, many problems are identified, and solutions proposed in relation to race and gender EDI; for example, a lack of race and gender is identified in STEM education [48][49][50][51][52][53]. One could apply the reasoning in the literature around STEM and race and gender to the discourse around EDI, STEM, and disabled people, such as making sure that disabled people are enticed to think about university and being STEM or non-STEM related researchers.…”

“…All of these points can and should be applied to disabled academics. The following identified problems and actions that are needed in relation to race and gender are also applicable to disabled students and disabled academics: representation in textbooks [56] (for literature on this related to disabled people, see [166][167][168][169][170], address leaky pipeline (such as go to junior and senior high schools to entice disabled students), go beyond academia, make women visible [51] (make disabled people visible), move towards highcontext approaches to learning [52], institutional culture changes in academia [53], fighting implicit biases and microaggressions [54] (by changing existing modules on harassment and bullying that often leave out disabled people, increase intersectionality and moving away from the "superwomen" [57] (p. 1779) (see the many similar discussions around the supercrip [79,[171][172][173][174]), and the ability to identify correctly and deal with "implicit bias", "status leveling", "tokenism", and "failure to differentiate" [58].…”

“…EDI endeavours align with the 2017 UNESCO Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers [40] which stated "Ill. The initial education and training of scientific researchers section 13 To assist the emergence of scientific researchers of this high calibre, Member States should take measures to: (a) ensure that, without discrimination on the basis of race, colour, descent, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, native language, religion, political or other opinion, national origin, ethnic origin, social origin, economic or social condition of birth, or disability, all citizens enjoy equal opportunities for the initial education and training needed to qualify for research and development careers, as well as ensuring that all citizens who succeed in so qualifying enjoy equal access to available employment in scientific research; (b) abolish inequalities of opportunities; (c) in order to remediate past inequalities and patterns of exclusion, actively encourage women and persons of other under-represented groups to consider careers in sciences and endeavour to eliminate biases against women and persons of other under-represented groups in work environments and appraisal" [40] (p. 120) Within the EDI academic literature not focusing on disabled people, various EDI problems have been identified and solutions proposed; for example, the lack of race and gender diversity in STEM education [48][49][50][51][52][53] was highlighted, whereby the solutions suggested that one has to deal with this absence starting in early childhood [48]. The following 10 rules for building an antiracist lab were suggested: lead informed discussions, address racism, publish, and write grants with people targeted by racism, mentor, amplify the voices experiencing racism, support them in their organizing efforts, recruit them as students and non-academic and academic staff, flexible research agenda, advocate for racially diverse leadership in science, hold the powerful accountable, and do not expect gratitude [50].…”

“…The following 10 rules for building an antiracist lab were suggested: lead informed discussions, address racism, publish, and write grants with people targeted by racism, mentor, amplify the voices experiencing racism, support them in their organizing efforts, recruit them as students and non-academic and academic staff, flexible research agenda, advocate for racially diverse leadership in science, hold the powerful accountable, and do not expect gratitude [50]. Other problems that were identified and solutions proposed were: address leaky pipeline, go beyond academia, make women visible [51], move toward high-context approaches to learning [52], institutional culture changes in academia [53], fight implicit biases and microaggressions [54,55], become literate, acknowledge ones privilege, speak out as a privileged one [55], change problematic representation in textbooks [56], increased research in EDI because the existing gender equity initiatives do not lead to intended levels of career advancements in the field [57], and increased intersectionality and moving away from the "superwomen" [57] (p. 1779). Problems also include the ability to identify correctly and deal with "implicit bias", "status leveling", "color-blind racial attitudes", "tokenism", and "failure to differentiate" [58] (p. 286), and developing career development programs as a possible solution [59].…”

Linking university culture and entrepreneurship for leadership

“…On campus, however, most interaction presidents interact with faculty and students. In particular, the latter group is gaining influence over the campus, and it would be advisable for the presidents to pay attention to the increasing activism in their ranks (Yen et al 2019).…”