Adaptation: DU MERISTEM - Mobilizing Equity to Raise Inclusivity in STEM

尽管获得STEM学位的女性比例现在几乎与男性持平，但在美国大学的STEM教师职位中，女性只占不到三分之一——拥有交叉身份的教师人数更少。丹佛大学（DU）将通过一个名为DU- meristem（发音为“mer- æ -stem”）的跨部门联盟和倡议来解决这个问题。“分生组织”是一个科学术语，指的是具有负责生长、发育和愈合的快速繁殖细胞的植物组织。同样，杜项目将致力于促进STEM领导层的成长，以便能够指导文化变革和招聘，发展指导结构和资源，以确保边缘化群体的保留和晋升，并通过有效的问责制结构来治愈个人和机构的错误。DU-MERISTEM的具体目标是：1)改善招聘实践，增加多元化的代表；2)增加对整个职业轨迹的支持，特别是确保新员工有通往职业成功的途径；3)通过改变部门文化，为女性和其他多元化员工创造更积极的氛围。为了推进这些目标，DU-MERISTEM将使用基于生态系统理论和Kotter的变化模型的方法，这些模型强调可持续性和领导力的关键作用。利用这笔资金，杜克大学将借鉴其他学校的成功经验，开发和实施三个项目：1)杜克大学发展计划（DU- grow），在该计划中，校长和其他从事搜索和推广的人员将接受最佳实践方面的特殊培训，以促进多样性和公平性；2) DU-DEVELOP，一个专注于帮助新员工成功的导师培训项目；3) DU-HEAL，一个领导层的问责结构和明确的机制来解决微侵犯和其他冲突，使用经过专门训练的“公平倡导者”。这些倡议的目的是改变文化，以便增加妇女和其他代表性不足的群体的人数，并创造一种环境，使她们得到支持并能够取得成功。这些项目的成果不仅将为其他类似机构提供信息，还将通过杜大的公平实验室（Equity Labs）影响企业和非营利组织空间，这是一个基于杜大社会工作研究生院（GSSW）的沉浸式体验式项目。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“适应”奖为高等教育的学术、非营利机构以及非学术、非营利组织适应和采用循证战略提供支持。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。

Despite the fact that the proportion of females earning STEM degrees is now nearly equal to men, women account for less than a third of STEM faculty positions in American universities-- and even fewer faculty with intersectional identities. The University of Denver (DU) will address this problem with an interdivisional coalition and initiative called the DU-MERISTEM (pronounced “mer-ə-stem”). “Meristem” is a scientific term that refers to plant tissues with rapidly reproducing cells responsible for growth, development, and healing. Similarly, the DU programs will aim to promote the growth of the STEM leadership to be able to guide cultural change and hiring, develop mentoring structures and resources to ensure retention and promotion of marginalized groups, and work to heal both individual and institutional wrongs through effective accountability structures. The specific goals of DU-MERISTEM are to 1) improve hiring practices to increase diverse representation, 2) increase support across the career trajectory, particularly ensuring that new hires have a pathway to career success, and 3) make the climate more positive for women and other diverse hires through changes to departmental cultures. To advance these aims, DU-MERISTEM will use approaches based on ecological systems theory and Kotter’s change models, which emphasize sustainability and the critical role of leadership. Using this foundation, DU will develop and implement three programs informed by successes at other schools: 1) DU-GROW, in which chairs and others engaged in searches and promotion will receive special training in best practices to foster diversity and equity; 2) DU-DEVELOP, a mentor training program with a focus on helping new hires succeed; and 3) DU-HEAL, an accountability structure for leadership and clear mechanisms to address microaggressions and other conflicts, using specially trained “equity advocates.” Together, these initiatives are intended to shift the culture in such a way as to both increase numbers of women and other underrepresented groups as well as create an environment in which they are supported and can succeed. The products of the programs will not only help inform other similar institutions but will also impact the corporate and non-profit organizational space through DU’s Equity Labs, an immersive, experiential program based in DU’s Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW).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 "Adaptation" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education as well as non-academic, non-profit organizations.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.