Achieving and sustaining gender balance in an undergraduate teaching institution

Recruiting and retaining women in the STEM faculty ranks has been a national priority for many years. Recent research, sponsored by the NSF ADVANCE program, was performed mostly by doctoral institutions. However, for small undergraduate universities, the resulting challenges and decision frameworks are likely to be different. The prevalent recommendations need to be re-evaluated and re-interpreted for relevance and applicability. Multiple change agents have been identified, but it is believed that the departmental climate most strongly correlates with successful institutional transformation. The primary success factor is a set of formalized processes in: (1) teaching, scholarship and service, (2) mentoring, and (3) leadership. A secondary factor is a faculty support infrastructure capable of fostering collaborations and reducing isolation. A third factor is an introspective capability that broadens the understanding of the issues affecting women ultimately expressed in the form of better policies and procedures. There is a strong connection between gender progress on the faculty side and improving the pipeline of female students. To effectively intervene on the supply side, it is important to have networking, mentoring and role modeling processes that match student demographics and global sociological conditions. In the case of our University, this requires recruiting, developing and retaining faculty whose principal focus is undergraduate education which is challenging in STEM fields where the traditional emphasis is on research. Curricular evolution in doctoral institutions is typically driven by emerging trends and technological opportunities while the needs of regional industries and local programs are more influential among primarily undergraduate institutions. As advanced degrees become a professional requirement, baccalaureate graduates will be expected to pursue advanced studies early in their career. Hence, more undergraduate STEM programs will serve as feeders to doctoral institutions. The future supply of graduate students and ultimately faculty will become more dependent on these teaching universities. This paper describes our specific efforts and successes in the context of an undergraduate teaching institution. We have demonstrated that even with limited resources and no external funding, it is possible to improve the community culture and climate. Tangible strategies and initiatives aimed at improving the climate are presented: (1) administrative leadership commitment, (2) grants and endowments, (3) faculty development resources, (4) workshops that mirror industry successes, (5) early and mid-career planning, and (6) recruiting and retention of female faculty.