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 Powell, 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 applicant pool –Best practices to maximize the effectiveness of interviewing while minimizing the effects of unconscious 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 community –Non-departmental faculty member to serve on search committees and, potentially, enhance committee diversity ADVANCE & HR –Faculty Recruitment Brochure: Advance initiated, HR sponsored; Currently under development; 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 –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 workshops 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 & Retention IMPROVED FACULTY SERVICES: Mediation –Unresolved conflicts were an issue in women faculty surveyed. Created faculty mediation 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 new 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 career 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 faculty) 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 socials 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 involving 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 –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