Creating Opportunity Networks for Engagement and Collective Transformation: Increasing the Representation and Advancement of Women Faculty @ RIT

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The Rochester Institute of Technology ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant seeks to improve conditions for women STEM faculty with a particular emphasis on women of color and women who are deaf and hard of hearing. Utilizing the theoretical foundation of Social Networking Behaviors, they have organized their initiatives in areas consistent with their theory. The first area, Structural, will include the analysis, modification, and clarification of policy and practice such that there is policy alignment and awareness throughout the system. The second area, Human Resources, will include professional development strategies, targeted mentoring, including mentoring specifically designed to address the unique concerns of women who are members of underrepresented groups (e.g., women of color, women who are deaf and hard or hearing), and work/life balance initiatives. The third area, Political/Strategic, will include purposeful methods to engage campus leaders in the process of institutional transformation including integration of proposed initiatives into existing campus structures and selective data-driven outreach to leader groups. The final area, Symbolic, will include broad within campus dissemination of the activities and outcomes of the initiatives as well as deliberate, high-level, and public endorsements of the ADVANCE initiatives and goals. Evaluation is thoughtfully intertwined throughout the programming allowing a robust test of the usefulness of this approach to institutional transformation. Their initiatives are also firmly rooted in their understanding of their particular institutional context which was revealed, in part, through the use of NSF ADVANCE Catalyst funds. All indications suggest that the institution is poised for the kinds of transformations sought through this grant including; strong letters of support from the administration, specific intentions to address gender equity in their most recent strategic plan, and clear integration of proposal initiatives into the existing university structures. The strength of the PI team, rigor of their social science project and well-conceived evaluation plan make the broad dissemination of their results highly probable increasing the broader impacts of the grant.