USU Home / Utah State Today Home Page / Archives / September 2003 /

September 19, 2003 Feature

Utah State University to Develop Supportive Workplace Model

Four researchers at Utah State University have a good question, and they just received $3 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help them find an answer.

Their question, and the question of many in academia, is: How to change the climate in academic institutions so women not only stay, but thrive. Women have left academics in droves for the last 20 years, even while the number of women obtaining doctorates has soared.

Many women find it difficult to balance the demands of raising a family with tenure track positions that can translate into 50 to 80 hours a week of teaching, preparation, research, writing, publishing, committee work and advising, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. And after the long, hard grind of graduate school, women often find themselves left out of discussions at the water cooler about funding opportunities, or they face professional isolation, with mentors and collaborators few and far between.

"Highly qualified women are being lost at each stage of advancement during their careers," said Ronda Callister, principal investigator and management professor at Utah State. "That means a loss of investment, a loss of qualified thinkers, a loss of role models and a loss of diversity."

Utah State researchers and administrators hope to do more than conduct ivory tower research about why women stay at universities, or leave. The groundbreaking, five-year project, one of only 10 funded in the United States, will develop a prototype that can be used at schools across the nation. Utah State was awarded the NSF grant, in part, because timing and conditions are ideal. President Kermit L. Hall and Provost Stan Albrecht have promoted an agenda of change, making recruitment, retention and promotion of women a top priority, and the faculty team has already laid the groundwork. Utah State's effort, the ADVANCE: Supportive Workplace Initiative, aims for nothing less than institutional transformation.

"We want to change the workplace climate for women and minorities at Utah State," said Callister.

"It's important," Hall said, "to remove the rose-colored glasses, not because it's politically correct, but because it's correct, for our society and for our time. It's important for women and minorities to have as many options before them as possible."

The Supportive Workplace Initiative will especially focus on attracting and retaining women in the sciences and engineering, where women are underrepresented, across the country and at Utah State. The university's College of Engineering, for example, has 82 tenured or tenure track faculty members; only six are women.

Co-investigator James Powell, father and professor in math and statistics, is helping develop a science and engineering recruitment team to broaden the pool of minority and female applicants for positions.

"We need to start selling the benefits of our situation here in Logan," Powell said, an outdoor enthusiast. "This is already a great place to live and work, and the Supportive Work Initiative will help open doors."

"Sometimes options are limited because of underlying assumptions that impact women — and men," said Kim Sullivan, co-investigator and biology professor. "Sometimes we downgrade the accomplishments of anyone who doesn't fit the image."

Sullivan cited a 1997 study, published in Nature, which found that both men and women rate the quality of men's professional accomplishments higher than those of women when they are aware of the gender. When the gender is not known, men's and women's achievements are ranked equally.

"We are trying to set up ways to fairly evaluate men and women, so the subtle biases aren't there," Sullivan said.

"But we want to look at the larger picture," said Sullivan. "We want to create a workplace model where all faculty, women and men, can be successful in highly competitive research fields and still maintain a rich personal life."

"This idea that you just keep putting in more and more hours every year isn't going to work anymore," Sullivan said. "If we can figure out ways to be more effective with our time and use the talents here on campus better, we can increase career success and compete with any institution for top faculty. At the same time, we can move Utah State to a new level of national prominence."

Callister believes that the project's "dual agenda" business model, which links equity to workplace effectiveness, will lead to more dynamic results. "Our strategy is to address problems that impact the effectiveness and satisfaction of all faculty members, but seem to weigh heavier on women and minorities," she said.

"An improved spousal accommodation program will help attract women to Logan," said Christine Hult, co-investigator and associate dean of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. "Women very often have professional spouses who will also be looking for employment."

According to the NSF, married women with doctorates are twice as likely to have spouses who work fulltime, as opposed to married men with doctorates.

The NSF initiative will engage faculty in creative dialogues to identify and implement change, said Hult. "With male and female colleagues working in grassroots collaboration across campus, a healthier dynamic will emerge for both men and women — one that recognizes the importance of a balanced lifestyle."

Mediation training will be provided to develop a more effective system for resolving staff tensions and conflicts. Training and assistance will be provided to hiring committees across campus. The Women's Center will receive additional staffing to increase support systems for faculty. Utah State's first childcare center will be established to assist faculty who are parents.

A new quarter-time associate vice provost for women's issues, Christine Hailey, will coordinate with the provost’s office to develop and implement supportive policies, especially where spousal accommodation, tenure and promotion are concerned. Many women land in tenure track positions that don't accommodate pregnancy or childcare, just as their biological clocks start ticking.

"It's difficult to balance a child and an academic career," said assistant speech professor Jennifer Peeples. "There is a real fear of falling behind. No one tells you it's a race to the finish, but it sure feels like one."

Peeples and husband Charles Waugh, who teaches in the Utah State English department, are juggling two demanding professional careers with a 14-month-old baby.

"Because of the importance of being up-to-date in one's discipline, as well as the time-sensitive nature of much of our research, it's nearly impossible to take off a couple years, raise a child and then come back to the job at the same level as when you left," Peeples said.

"This is even more true for women in the sciences who have to maintain funding for their labs," said Hult.

Powell, who brings expertise in math and statistics to the project, will track results with computer simulations.

"We want to determine where critical bottlenecks to female advancement have been," he said. "We should be able to see how small effects grow into large outcomes."

"This will mark a milestone of change in the history of this institution," said Hall. "We don't have all the answers, but we've made a commitment to taking this step, and all the steps that come after.

"A workplace that is attractive for women is attractive for everyone," Hall said.

For more information go to: http://websites.usu.edu/nsf

Contact: Ronda Callister, callister@b202.usu.edu, 435-797-1905
Writer: Nadene Steinhoff, nadene.steinhoff@usu.edu, 435-797-1429

utah state today/archives/September 2003/archives prior to Sept 2002/

Brought to you by Utah State University Public Relations and Marketing