ADVANCE Institutional Transformation at the University of Massachusetts Lowell

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The ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of women faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in areas such as policy, practice, culture, and organizational climate. The ADVANCE Institutional Transformation (ADVANCE-IT) track supports the development of innovative organizational change strategies within an institution of higher education to enhance gender equity in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines.The University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) will implement a set of strategies designed to create an academic environment that supports gender equity so all faculty can achieve their highest potential. The UML project will focus on disrupting interpersonal and institutional microaggressions (casual belittling of socially marginalized groups made by individuals that intend no offense and are likely unaware of causing harm) that undercut productivity and well-being. The project includes three related studies of microaggressions at UML that will add to the knowledge base on the phenomenon and effective interventions to mitigate the negative impacts of microaggressions. According to UNL, research suggests that microaggressions have a powerful, cumulative negative impact on individuals who experience them and impacts their access to support and advancement. The ADVANCE-IT program at UML will implement strategies to: (1) disrupt microaggressions, (2) promote alternative interactional patterns, and (3) address targeted aspects of the organizational context that can breed bias. These strategies address issues ranging from institutional procedures to interpersonal interactions. Activities include an information campaign and bystander training as well as comprehensive transparency and accountability initiatives to establish detailed procedures for committee decision making, workload distribution, and college and department-level self-assessment and action planning. The research studies will also further develop the research method of collecting journal data for studies of this nature.