NSF ADVANCE

Institutional Transformation at

Utah State University

Advance PI Meeting – Atlanta Georgia

April 19, 2004

Project Structure• Working with 4 SEM colleges

– Agriculture, Sciences, Engineering, Natural Resources

• ADVANCE Team– PI’s – Ronda Callister, Kim Sullivan, Christine Hult, James P

owell, Chris Hailey– Program Lead – Mary Feng– Collaborative Research – Anne Anderson

• Implementation Committee– Deans of six out of seven colleges, and key faculty– Meets twice a semester

Goals Faculty Recruitment & Retention

– Develop best practices on faculty recruitment. Disseminate information and tools to aid search committees.

– Develop programs to increase faculty effectiveness and integration of work and personal life.

– Assess clarity and implementation of P&T policy and procedures.

– Faculty Services: Mediation, Dual Career Accommodation, Childcare

Departmental Climate Interventions – Assess work climate in selected dept’s.

– Foster faculty initiated programs which improve dept. work climate and faculty effectiveness.

– Study job satisfaction and obstacles to career success.

Collaborative Research Program & Seed Funding

– Create ways to foster collaborative research through seminars, brown bags, seed money grants, etc..

– Create methods to provide faculty accessible information on grant opportunities and proposal development.

ADVANCE USU Initiative– Assessment, Dissemination, Visibility– Sustainability

Recruitment• SERT (Science & Engineering Recruitment Team)

– Faculty based team – 12 members; Meets bi-monthly– Team Mission:

• Collaborate with hiring committees to maximize the quality of potential hires by attracting a broad and diverse pool of qualified candidates.

• Provide information to committees and departments on:– Advertising strategies; Decision-making tools to ensure objective treatment of this broadened a

pplicant pool– Best practices to maximize the effectiveness of interviewing while minimizing the effects of unco

nscious and unintended bias– Mentoring support to departments and faculty.

• Provide best practices information and support for:– Non-departmental contact to meet with candidates and answer questions about the University c

ommunity– Non-departmental faculty member to serve on search committees and, potentially, enhance co

mmittee diversity

• ADVANCE & HR– Faculty Recruitment Brochure: Advance initiated, HR sponsored; Currently under developme

nt; To be available in Fall 2004

Retention• Tenure and Promotion

– Surveys and interviews show the need for more transparency/clarity of policy and the need for administrator training on P&T policy and process.

– Training: ADVANCE and the Provost office is planning for dept. head and faculty training on P&T policy and process for Fall 2004.

– Workshops: Non-traditional career paths, promotion (with Vice Provost for Academic Affairs) held. Additional workshops under development to share P&T information and deal with transparency/clarity issues.

– Address the issue of transparency in P&T through fact vs. fiction webpage and other events which share information.

– Assessment shows USU has fewer full professors than peer institutions. Held a brownbag session with S&E women associate professors to discuss with the VP of Academic Affairs and the Assoc. Dean of Engineering/Advance PI promotion issues and concerns.

– Policy Review & Revision: Recommending changes to code for promotion from associate to full professor to improve mentoring.

Retention• Leadership

– Planning for annual leadership series for Dept. Heads and emerging leaders. Received buy-in and support from Deans.

• Career Development– Administrator & Faculty training workshops: Planning a series of wor

kshops related to Resolving Conflict, Chilly Climate for Women (Bernice Sandler), negotiation skills, and others.

– Faculty Mentor Programs: Developed at the department level through intervention initiative.

• Additional mentoring seminars are planned for 2004/2005 on this topic.

– ADVANCE has become a place for women professors to seek advice.

Recruitment & RetentionIMPROVED FACULTY SERVICES:

• Mediation– Unresolved conflicts were an issue in women faculty surveyed. Created faculty m

ediation program sponsored by the Provost Office.

• Childcare– Identified as an issue in women faculty surveys.– ADVANCE PI is a member of the committee. The committee is planning for a ne

w university child care facility and services that addresses faculty and student needs. A business plan is being developed to guide the process and a fund-raising committee chaired by the basketball coach and his wife has been established.

• Dual Career Accomodation– Policy Review & Revision: Document outlining the policy and process for dual car

eer accommodation has been completed and posted on the Provost’s website. – Dual Career Committee: Faculty based team – 11 members; Meet bi-semester– Committee Mission: Identify a set of “Best Practices” for faculty (or potential facu

lty) in dual career situations.

Collaborative Research & Seed Funding• Promoting Research Collaboration

– Led by Anne Anderson, a female full professor in science.– Creating a series of workshops, seminars, brownbags and networking s

ocials to share research information. These events are done in cooperation with the SPO and VP Research office.

– Developing a database and program that facilitates inter-disciplinary research exploration.

• 9 Workshops/brown bags were held to share information on research and collaboration: NSF grants; NSF Fastlane; SPINS/SMART funding search database; grant writing; exploring collaborative research. Additional workshops related to technology transfer, agency program officers, managing grant budgets, etc. are planned for 2004/2005.

• Held 2 socials encouraging multi-disciplinary collaboration and professional/support/mentor relationships.

• These events and more will be held in 2004/2005.

• Seed Funding– Creating a seed fund for multi-investigative collaborative grants involvin

g women. Targeting 3 to 5 seed grants awarded per year.

• Climate Survey conducted across SEM colleges with 74% response rate.

• Intervention in 2 departments: College of Science and College of Agriculture, respectively. Engineering department scheduled for the summer.

• Planned 2-3 additional department interventions per year.

• Faculty initiated programs to improve department climate and effectiveness of faculty.

• Initial changes in process.

Departmental Climate Intervention

• Assessment– Climate surveys, phone interviews, focus groups, individual faculty interviews– Committee feedback

• Dissemination– ADVANCE website http://websites.usu.edu/nsf– ADVANCE newsletter– Provost’s webpage– Events – workshops, seminars, brown bags– National Conference for Undergraduate Research and the Council on Undergraduate

Research Posters on the Hill • Visibility

– USU President and Provost support; Monthly meeting with Provost– Meet w/Implementation Committee twice/semester including deans and key faculty– Annual celebration event for women promoted– Networking socials

• Sustainibility– Coordinating efforts with AA/EO, SPO, VP Research, Provost office so programs will

eventually reside in a permanent department.– Position for Associate Vice Provost for Women’s Issues created– Integration with Tri-Council for gender programs (Women’s Center, Women & Gender

Research Institute, Women & Gender Studies)– Permanent office space identified and move will occur this summer.

USU ADVANCE Initiative