Chris Anderson - US grants

The single most important process that shapes the future of a university is the selection of new tenure track faculty. When an institution aspires to the principles of excellence, innovation and diversity, these must be actively used to guide the hiring and subsequent tenure decisions. Traditional patterns of reliance on "expert opinion" in the evaluation of candidates tend to perpetuate the existing faculty composition, and when that is occurring at a STEM-intensive institution, such as Michigan Tech, there is a risk of stasis.

Several federal employment regulations explicitly encourage the consideration of women and minorities in job searches. In some States, however, search committees cannot favor particular groups. The key to improving diversity is, we believe, to increase the qualified applicant pool, and ensure all eligible candidates are given proper and timely consideration. It is also important, given the rising cost of supporting new faculty, to provide strong and effective mentoring not only to the point of tenure, but through the process of advancement through the ranks to senior faculty positions and institutional administration. We believe that application of these principles and support structures for all candidates will be to the great benefit of the institution, and especially to women faculty.

Intellectual Merit: Inclusion of a doctoral student will ensure that the results of the project's initiatives will be reported in the literature, with the opportunity to share best practices with other universities, particularly those with strong STEM emphasis. The project participants will collaborate with the graduate student on professional publications and presentations. Proper data-based analyses of the results of new and past initiatives provide an important opportunity to identify strategies and tactics that bring more women into the STEM faculty ranks. Aspects of the student's study will include: comparisons between male and female faculty in terms of climate perception and climate experience, levels of startup and salary, rate of progress through the ranks, productivity, and research income. It will also allow evaluation of the benefits of mentoring through comparisons "before and after" the introduction of widespread mentoring. The cluster hiring outcomes will be compared with those from traditional departmentally-based processes, and the composition of the applicant pool, short list and final candidate will be compared with historic patterns that resulted from previous departmental hiring processes.

Broader Impacts: The project will have a magnified effect and opportunity to increase the number of women in STEM, because of the fact that most of the new hires we will be making over the next decade will be in the STEM disciplines. There is therefore an opportunity to make a considerable impact as these will represent a 62% turnover in the faculty complement. The project investigators include several senior women in STEM disciplines who have considerable background in disciplinary research and university administration. All are personally and professionally committed to promoting an increase in the presence and impact of women on campus. This ADVANCE grant will structure the education of our 300-plus colleagues about the value of open processes and accountability in the evaluation of candidates. It will also provide a framework of institutional accountability for search committees and their chairs, departments and their chairs, Deans, and the Provost that will provide transferable best practices that can be adopted elsewhere.

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

In addition to Michigan Technological Institution, this project includes Saginaw Valley State University, Grand Valley State University, Delta College, and Grand Rapids Community College and two school districts: Saginaw Public Schools and Grand Rapids Public Schools. Over the five year course of the project 24 science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) undergraduate students and 12 career changer/STEM professionals are being supported through Noyce scholarships and related activities as they prepare to be teachers in high needs secondary schools.

Intellectual Merit: As part of their pre-service experience the Scholars are being engaged in special related seminars conducted by STEM faculty and receiving support from faculty at one of the two partner universities during their intense field experiences in the two urban partner schools. During the first two years of teaching in the high needs schools they will serve, the Noyce Scholars will be mentored in-school through a Noyce Mentoring Committee consisting of a mentor teacher from the school and a STEM faculty member and a teacher educator from one of the participating universities.

Broader Impact: In addition to the broad impact the teachers produced by this program will provide in the school districts to which they go, this project is enhancing teacher preparation more broadly through its dissemination. The program evaluation is designed to provide insights into the effectiveness of the strategies being employed so that viable approaches can be replicated in other settings.

The first objective of the project is to improve the upper-division retention rates of academically talented engineering students who show the highest risk of not completing their degrees. The highest risk students in engineering are the underrepresented women and minorities. The second objective is to improve the recruitment of women and minorities to graduate school in engineering. Each year thirty-five junior and senior engineering students who are at-risk for attrition and five first-year graduate engineering students are receiving scholarship support. Financially needy, academically talented women and minorities are targeted for recruitment. Undergraduate student scholars are selected based on a combination of academic merit and attrition risk factors (financial need, minority status, first generation college student, pre-college preparation, off-campus work, and campus connectivity). Graduate student scholars will be selected based on academic merit, financial need, and underrepresentation in engineering.
Student support services include a number of specially designed activities, several of which expand on existing programs. Activities include a one-credit Career Foundations course, mentorship opportunities and training, professional development seminars, undergraduate research opportunities, and service projects.