Iowa State University's Cinzia Cervato is leading a four-campus effort to promote faculty success for women at Midwestern research universities in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Larger photo. Photo by Christopher Gannon.
AMES, Iowa – Cinzia Cervato knows – and has lived – the challenges female faculty in science and technology can face in their departments and in their families:
Only female tenure in her department. Control.
Carefully planned day care plans fall apart. Control.
Asking herself, “Where will I get support?” Control.
Cervato, Professor Morrill of geological and atmospheric sciences at Iowa State University, are leading campus-wide and three other Midwestern research universities to develop strategies and tools that could help women of color and women with family responsibilities succeed in college in the fields of science, technology , engineering or mathematics (STEM).
The idea is for the four Midwestern universities to join forces, collect data, determine useful strategies, develop an Integrated Equity Advocacy toolkit, and launch a caucus to promote and distribute that toolkit.
The project is supported by a three-year $996,000 grant; from the National Science Foundation ADVANCE program dedicated to promoting gender equality in STEM academic careers.
In addition to Iowa State, partner universities Michigan Technological University in Houghton, North Dakota State University in Fargo and Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.
Associates of Iowa State are Dawn Bratsch-Prince, associate; dean for school? Gül Kremer, Professor and CG “Turk” & Joyce A. Therkildsen Department Chair at industrial and manufacturing systems engineering; Jo Anne Powell-Coffman, associate dean at College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Raj Raman, Morrill Professor of agriculture and biosystems engineering; and Robert Reason, associate dean for undergraduate academic affairs at College of Humanities and professor at School of Education.
The project for the other schools in the partnership is being led by Canan Bilen-Green, the vice president for teachers and justice at North Dakota State. Carla Koretsky, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of geological and environmental sciences at Western Michigan. and Adrienne Minerick, dean of the College of Computing and professor of chemical engineering at Michigan Tech.
Their goal: “The long-term outcome of this project is expected to be increased retention and career development at Midwestern universities of underrepresented women and women with family responsibilities in STEM departments,” the researchers wrote in a summary of their project.
“Our focus is the issues facing women with families and women of color at Midwest research institutions,” Cervato said.
Day care, for example, can be a major issue for faculty, especially if they are out of the area and family support is far away.
Some universities (like Iowa State) offer day care services, but there can be waiting lists and getting and keeping a spot can be a long process.
Or, Cervato said, women of color can feel isolated in the predominantly white college towns of the Midwest.
In both cases, frustrations may lead to women dropping out of Midwestern universities.
Partner schools will address this by developing a four-part system: a mentoring community across all universities; a system of male advocates and allies on college campuses. professional development for department chairs; and a team to support the project and promote it beyond the original universities.
The project will be implemented in three phases, including adapting existing programs across campuses, sharing these programs across campuses, establishing a pilot program in Western Michigan, and sharing project findings and tools.
Researchers plan to measure their progress by analyzing data, evaluating results, and inviting external reviewers.
But they will also start a conversation.
“The caucus component will bring in discussion and conversation,” Cervato said. “For example, 'This worked for us,' or 'We had these issues,' or 'How did you handle this?'
In the end, the researchers hope they can begin to create a new checklist:
Faculty success in STEM fields for women underrepresented at Midwestern research universities. Control.
Faculty success in STEM fields for women with family responsibilities at Midwestern research universities. Control.
