ADVANCE Catalyst: Faculty Resources and Opportunities for Growth in STEM

ADVANCE Catalyst基金将支持德克萨斯基督教大学（Texas Christian University）的工作，以确定它是如何暗中影响科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）部门的不平等现象的。通过确定女性STEM教师的障碍和桥梁，该项目旨在产生制度变革，这不仅会影响STEM，还会影响TCU的所有女性教师。更广泛地说，随着任何机构都将公平环境作为规范，硕士和博士课程的毕业生将带着公平的心态进入他们的学术生涯，这有可能增加女性STEM教师的数量。此外，系统性的变化（随着女教师数量的增加）有可能加强我们校园的研究和教育基础设施。这项分析和由此产生的五年战略计划可能会为其他具有类似人口结构和历史背景的私立大学的工作奠定基础。德克萨斯基督教大学ADVANCE Catalyst项目以三个学术领域的强大文献为基础；女性在高等教育（尤其是STEM）中面临的挑战，交叉性，以及高等教育中的自学。将这些工作结合起来，重点是了解该机构在为跨领域女性教师培养挑战和不同工作环境方面的作用。这个项目将考虑女性/女性所拥有的其他身份和职位，以了解她们的地位。短期目标是进行一项自我研究，以确定阻碍女性在STEM领域公平和包容的系统性因素，特别注意交叉分析将如何告知对女性校园经历的理解，因为这些差异会对她们的生活产生重大影响，因为她们的身份不同。该项目的一个关键优势是定性地关注理解当女性STEM教师被视为一个比性别更复杂的人时的障碍/桥梁。研究问题包括：(1)在STEM领域招募、雇用、晋升和留住女性/女教师的障碍和桥梁是什么？(2)在STEM领域，女性教师在招聘、聘用、晋升和留住员工方面最重要的交叉点是什么？长期目标是执行五年战略计划并记录体制改革努力的效力。NSF ADVANCE项目旨在通过识别和消除阻碍学术机构中不同教师充分参与和进步的组织障碍来促进性别平等。阻碍公平的组织障碍可能存在于政策、过程、实践以及组织文化和气候中。ADVANCE“Catalyst”奖为学术、非营利性高等教育机构的机构公平评估和五年教师公平战略计划的制定提供支持。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The ADVANCE Catalyst grant will support Texas Christian University’s effort to determine how it has implicitly influenced the inequities found in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) departments. By identifying barriers and bridges for women STEM faculty, this project aims to produce institutional change that will impact not only STEM, but also all women faculty at TCU. More broadly, as any institution develops an environment of equity as the norm, graduates of master and doctoral programs will enter their academic careers with a mindset of equity which has the potential to increase the number of women STEM faculty. In addition, systemic change (with an increase in the number of women faculty) has the potential to enhance infrastructure for research and education on our campus. The analysis and resulting five-year strategic plan may ground the work of other private universities with similar demographics and historical contexts.The Texas Christian University ADVANCE Catalyst project is grounded in the robust literature of three academic areas; challenges for women in higher education (especially STEM), intersectionality, and self-studies in higher education. Combining these bodies of work, the focus is on understanding the institution’s role in cultivating challenges and disparate work contexts for intersectional women faculty. This project will consider the other identities and positions held by women/females to understand their positionality. The short-term goal is to conduct a self-study to identify systemic factors that impede equity and inclusion of women in STEM, paying particular attention to the ways intersectional analyses will inform understandings of women’s experiences on campus given that those differences make a material difference in their lives as derived from their diverse identities. A key strength of the project is the qualitative focus on understanding the barriers/bridges when women STEM faculty are seen as a complex being who are more than their gender. Research questions include: (1) What are the barriers and bridges for recruiting, hiring, promoting, and retaining women/female faculty in STEM? (2) What are the most significant intersections for women faculty for recruiting, hiring, promoting, and retaining within STEM? The long-term goal is to implement the five-year strategic plan and document the efficacy of institutional change efforts.The NSF 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 diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE "Catalyst" awards provide support for institutional equity assessments and the development of five-year faculty equity strategic plans at an academic, non-profit institution of higher education.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.