Partnership of Women in Engineering, Research and Science National Science Foundation ADVANCE-PAID Grant Texas Tech University

RECRUITING TO IMPROVE FACULTY DIVERSITY -Purpose: to increase diversity by enhancing recruiting efforts -Background information on diversity -What are the obstacles to achieving diversity on the faculty? -Why has it been so difficult to overcome these obstacles? -Why should we do anything? - What can we do?

BACKGROUND INFORMATION Women and minorities are underrepresented on the faculty of science and engineering departments By any reasonable definition, there are too few women and minorities on the faculty at major research institutions

TTU Women in Science/Engineering Departments ENGINEERINGTOTAL FACULTY TOTAL WOMEN (% Women) Electrical and Computer213 (14%) Civil and Environmental221 (4.5%) Chemical213 (14%) Petroleum61 (16.6%) Engineering Technology111 (9%) Industrial121 (8.3%) Computer Science203 (15%) Mechanical233 (13%) TOTAL ENG (12.6%)

TTU Women in Science/Engineering Departments ARTS & SCIENCESTOTAL FACULTY TOTAL WOMEN (% Women) Biological Sciences346 (17.6%) Chemistry & Biochemistry273 (11.1%) Geosciences192 (10.5%) Physics211 (4.8%) TOTAL A&S (11.9%) TOTAL SCIENCE/ENG (12.3%)

ARE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FACULTIES LESS DIVERSE BECAUSE: There are too few qualified women/minority scientists and engineers? Women are in the wrong fields or subfields? Qualified women and minorities are overlooked when they apply for faculty positions because of subtle perceptions of competence, dedication and potential? Recruiting efforts are not attracting qualified women candidates?

SCHEMAS Research shows that we all – regardless of gender or race – perceive and treat people based on their race, gender, social group, etc. Valian (1998) Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women. Cambridge: MIT Press, p.280

“Although scientists like to believe that they ‘choose the best’ based on objective criteria, decisions are influenced by factors—including biases about race, sex, geographic location of a university, and age—that have nothing to do with the quality of the person or work being evaluated.” The National Academies Beyond Bias ACADEME IS A MERITOCRACY

STEREOTYPING A stereotype is a belief that members of a group generally possess some characteristic (for example, the belief that women are typically nurturing). An implicit stereotype is a stereotype that is powerful enough to operate without conscious control

TEST YOUR TENDENCY TO STEREOTYPE: Take an Implicit Association Test:

Schemas/implicit stereotyping – Gender – Race/ethnicity – Sexual orientation – Age, Ability, Other Lack of critical mass; those recruited cannot relate and leave Biased evaluations and judgments Disadvantage accumulates, making it difficult to overcome obstacles WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES TO ACHIEVING DIVERSITY ON CAMPUS?

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES Why it can be so difficult to overcome these obstacles :

Tendency to value people who fit in to traditional definitions of the discipline and of good work Concentration of white men at the top Late and reactive implementation of family friendly policies; others still to be implemented such as child care Social and professional networks and other resources underutilized for recruiting No reward or punishment for faculty to diversify itself Students' awkward, confused, or challenging reactions to female faculty and faculty of color Schemas and policies assume institutions are white, male and heterosexual

WHAT CAN WE DO? Use a different type of recruiting approach for faculty positions that –Deals with schemas/stereotyping –Increases women in candidate pools NSF ADVANCE-PAID program

ADVANCE-PAID TTU/TTUHSC: 3 yr, $500K NSF ADVANCE-PAID award Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination Purpose: To increase women on science, engineering and clinical faculties (minorities not the emphasis of this award)

PoWERS = Partnership of Women in Engineering, Research and Science Purpose = Increase number of tenure-track women on faculty Methods = Adopt and adapt to TTU methods and procedures that have worked at NSF-funded institutions with previous ADVANCE grants

PoWERS departments: A&S –Biological Sciences, –Chemistry & Biochemistry, –Geosciences, –Physics –Mathematics & Statistics and Environmental Toxicology are control departments Engineering –All departments

PoWERS PI and Co-PIs PI – Karlene Hoo (Chemical Engineering) Co-PIs: –Caryl Heintz (A&S, Biological Sciences) –Charlotte Dunham (A&S, Sociology) –Stephanie Leeper (TTUHSC, Medicine) –Cynthia Raehl (TTUHSC, Medicine) –Marjorie Jenkins (TTUHSC. Medicine)

PROGRAMS Recruiting: Our program is modeled after the University of Michigan’s STRIDE [Strategies and Tactics for Recruiting to Improve Diversity and Excellence] program. Other components include: Mentoring (two programs) Third Year Reviews Exit Interviews website:

STRIDE Strategies and Tactics for Recruiting to Improve Diversity and Excellence Objective: Educate search committees how to increase the number of women in final candidate pools in faculty searches - and oversee that they follow through

STRIDE Strategies: 1) Identify senior faculty (4 from engineering, 4 from A&S) who would be willing to educate search committees in return for course releases sponsored by the Provost. 2) Deans of Engineering and A&S ensure women are on short list of every search

HOW WILL THIS WORK? 1. Senior faculty will meet with PoWERS PI and coPIs to learn how to educate search committees [1-2 Saturdays] 2. Senior faculty will educate and work with search committees, along with PoWERS staff 3. Search committees will recruit for excellence and diversity using additional recruiting strategies

Recruit for diversity and excellence Search committee chair and composition will differ Active recruiting will use additional resources Prime the pump – actively promote the position Promote awareness of the issues to search committees Interviewing tips Job definition will be critical Advertisement – not just the usual places Accountability and follow-through for diversity records ADDITIONAL RECRUITING STRATEGIES

WHY SHOULD WE DO ANYTHING? By excluding women and male minorities, we are excluding the majority of people from the pool. Opens up environment for a wider range of people, skills, talents, and perspectives, and more perspectives are taken into account in devising solutions to problems. To increase the range of talent and skills available for research and collaboration Add to the creativity and intellectual vigor of programs of including people of different backgrounds and experiences Allows us to remain globally competitive by diversifying our workforce Provide role models and mentoring for female students and ethnically diverse students Fewer things are taken for granted; more things are questioned The university has a commitment to hire qualified persons regardless of gender or ethnicity and to no longer subtly exclude them from consideration

WHAT ARE WE ASKING OF THE CHAIRPERSONS? Bring the program to the attention of your faculty, ask for their participation Chose 4 senior faculty who are willing to participate for 2 years (perhaps 3) in educating search committees in return for a course release Be on board – work with the PoWERS team, your selected senior faculty, your search committees and the Dean to increase the number of women in your candidate pools

WORKING TOGETHER FOR A MORE DIVERSE TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY