ADVANCE IT Start Award: Research, Reflect, Plan - IT Start at New York City College of Technology

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City Tech will research, reflect upon, and plan a transformational initiative for women STEM faculty that will improve the professional climate and enable women to realize their full professional potential unimpeded by either structural barriers posed by the institution or more subtle forms of self-limitation that arise from gender stereotyping and societal expectations. Intellectual Merit. In the first year City Tech will conduct research and perform quantitative and qualitative analyses that enable the college to consider the professional standing of women in STEM fields, both within the college and comparatively across institutions, using perspectives of history, psychology, and sociology as lenses through which to view data and testimony. In the second year City Tech will disseminate research findings, reflect upon their meaning, build consensus for a plan of action, learn as much as we can about how other ADVANCE-funded institutions have put programs into action that redress gender inequities, and come up with a plan based upon our unique institutional needs and context. This project brings together expertise from a wide variety of sources: in addition to the in-house expertise of a research active STEM faculty and a well-qualified project staff, the proposed STEM self-study will engage nationally recognized researchers and equity consultants such as the Collaborative for Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) and the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology. Our Advisory Board will draw on the expertise of nationally known leaders in the field.Broader Impact. This IT START project has the potential for extremely broad impact. While the target population is first and foremost the female faculty in STEM departments, the ultimate beneficiaries will be the entire faculty of over 1000 members who will benefit from a more transparent and more enabling climate for success. In addition, the college administration will be aware of the structural and subjective factors that mitigate against women?s professional advancement in order to engage in redressing them. While the achievement of gender equity in the professional lives of female STEM faculty is of absolute value in and of itself, it also has profound implications for future generations of students. Underrepresented minority students, the college's primary student demographic, are critical to the future of STEM in America. They deserve models of successful women scientists, engineers, and mathematicians of many races and ethnicities, in whom they can see their own nascent dreams embodied.