To Have And To Hold: Recruitment And Retention Of Women In Science And Engineering

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To Have And To Hold Recruitment And Retention
Of Women In Science And Engineering

• Laurie E. McNeil
• Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
• Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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The problem

• Women are underrepresented at (almost) all levels
  in (almost) all SMET fields

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The problem

• Women are underrepresented at (almost) all levels
  in (almost) all SMET fields
• Women (and racial/ethnic minorities) make up an
  increasing fraction of the pool of future
  scientists

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The problem

• Women are underrepresented at (almost) all levels
  in (almost) all SMET fields
• Women (and racial/ethnic minorities) make up an
  increasing fraction of the pool of future
  scientists

Se vogliamo che tutto rimanga come è, bisogna che
tutto cambi. Guiseppe di Lampedusa, The
Leopard (If we want things to stay as they are,
things will have to change.)
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75 years of change
Thanks to Ruth Howes for this comparison!
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So how do we change?
The leakiest parts of the pipeline occur before
college. This does not relieve colleges and
universities of responsibility!

• Undergraduate students
• Graduate students
• Faculty

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Undergraduate students

• Recruiting K-12 programs

• Stereotypes appear at young ages
• Families often provide no role models
• What is research? What do engineers do?
• In-school and on-campus programs
• Coordinated program can be more efficient
• Get students involved
• Connect with real world (including industrial
  contacts)

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Undergraduate students

• Recruiting K-12 programs
• Pedagogy and curriculum

• Good teaching matters!
• Cultivate rather than weed
• Interactive engagement and collaboration
• Relevant examples and applications
• Multiple entry portals
• Are prerequisites really relevant?
• Flexible programs

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Undergraduate students

• Recruiting K-12 programs
• Pedagogy and curriculum
• Doing science and engineering

• Early involvement in research/design
• Early contact with faculty as people
• Career information
• Community of scholars

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Undergraduate students

• Recruiting K-12 programs
• Pedagogy and curriculum
• Doing science and engineering
• Mentoring and role models

• Encourage good students in introductory classes
• Bring students in contact with role models
  (especially alumnae)
• Establish personal relationships

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Undergraduate students

• Recruiting K-12 programs
• Pedagogy and curriculum
• Doing science and engineering
• Mentoring and role models
• Community

• Bring female students together (across
  departments, if necessary)
• Big/little sister programs
• WISE dorm or floor
• Seminars, pizzas, speakers
• Connect with national organizations

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Undergraduate students

• Recruiting K-12 programs
• Pedagogy and curriculum
• Doing science and engineering
• Mentoring and role models
• Community
• Climate and celebration

• Establish a climate of cooperative learning
• Be proactive about study groups, etc.
• Do not tolerate disrespect of women
• Celebrate and showcase women

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Undergraduate students

• Recruiting K-12 programs
• Pedagogy and curriculum
• Doing science and engineering
• Mentoring and role models
• Community
• Climate and celebration

Talking About Leaving Why Undergraduates Leave
the Sciences E. Seymour and N.M. Hewitt (Westview
Press, Boulder CO 1997)
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Graduate students

• Recruiting

• Be proactive go where women are
• Highlight climate and community during visits

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Graduate students

• Recruiting
• Critical mass and community

• Increase the numbers
• Bring women together (multiple departments)
• Seminars, pizzas, speakers
• Connect with national organizations

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Graduate students

• Recruiting
• Critical mass and community
• Mentoring and role models

• Make sure all students get proactive mentoring
• Bring students into contact with senior women
  (from outside, if necessary)

All of your faculty share this responsibility!
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Graduate students

• Recruiting
• Critical mass and community
• Mentoring and role models
• Work/life issues

• Two-body problem (students have it too!)
• Parental leave and child care
• Health insurance
• Personal safety

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Graduate students

• Recruiting
• Critical mass and community
• Mentoring and role models
• Work/life issues
• Climate and respect

• Establish a climate of cooperative learning
• Do not tolerate disrespect of women (from faculty
  or peers)
• Treat all students as junior colleagues
• Have the same expectations for male and female
  students
• Graduate school is not a rite of passage

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Graduate students

• Recruiting
• Critical mass and community
• Mentoring and role models
• Work/life issues
• Climate and respect
• Sexual harassment

• Believe it exists (possibly even in your
  department)
• Know your institutions procedures
• Understand the storage capacity of the bush
  telegraph
• Make sure that action taken is visible to the
  students

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Graduate students

• Recruiting
• Critical mass and community
• Mentoring and role models
• Work/life issues
• Climate and respect
• Sexual harassment

Good women always think it is their fault when
someone else is being offensive. Anita Brookner,
Hotel du Lac
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Faculty

• Recruiting

• Broaden search to assure 1 woman in the pool
• Search committee, not envelope-opening committee
  (and pick the right people)
• Dont assume faculty know how to do this!
• Ask specifically about female potential
  candidates when contacting sources
• Transparent evaluation
• Targeted hires and targets of opportunity

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Faculty

• Recruiting
• Leadership and accountability

• Diversity as a value, not an extra
• Accountability for departments (and Chairs)
• Results, not just effort
• Insist on transparency in evaluations

A female applicant had to be 2.5 times more
productive than the average male applicant to
receive the same competence scores. --Christine
Wenneras and Agnes Wold, Nepotism and sexism in
peer-review, Nature 387, 341-343 (1997)
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Faculty

• Recruiting
• Leadership and accountability
• Two-body problem

• Scientists often marry scientists
• Opportunity, not liability
• Dont assume what people want
• Establish procedures before interviews take
  place
• Coordinate with neighboring institutions

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Faculty

• Recruiting
• Leadership and accountability
• Two-body problem
• Mentoring and integration

• Make sure young faculty get good mentoring
• Keep teaching and service loads light
• Involve in key decision-making processes
• Provide leadership opportunities

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Faculty

• Recruiting
• Leadership and accountability
• Two-body problem
• Mentoring and integration
• Work/life issues

• Know policies on maternity, child care, etc.
• Stopping tenure clockis it functional?
• Flexible scheduling

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Faculty

• Recruiting
• Leadership and accountability
• Two-body problem
• Mentoring and integration
• Work/life issues
• Community

• Bring women into contact with other women
• Make sure womens groups have access to
  administration

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Faculty

• Recruiting
• Leadership and accountability
• Two-body problem
• Mentoring and integration
• Work/life issues
• Community
• Equity

• Assure salary equity at hiring and in raises
• Assess frequently

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Faculty

• Recruiting
• Leadership and accountability
• Two-body problem
• Mentoring and integration
• Work/life issues
• Community
• Equity

Every man who is high up loves to think that he
has done it all himself and his wife smiles, and
lets it go at that. J.M. Barrie, What Every Woman
Knows
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• A good source for ideas, based on things that
  have succeeded at research universities
• To Recruit and Advance Women Students and
  Faculty in U.S. Science and Engineering
• Committee on Women in Science and Engineering
• Policy and Global Affairs Division
• National Research Council of the National
  Academies
• To be issued by National Academies Press, late
  February

See also A National Analysis of Diversity in
Science and Engineering Faculties at Research
Universities by Donna J. Nelson to compare your
statistics with those of other top-ranked
departments in your field. http//cheminfo.chem.o
u.edu/djn/diversity/briefings/Diversity20Report
20Final.pdf
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