Akron’s Project

1. Akron’s Project • Theme: Redesign faculty recruitment and hiring practices. Encourage faculty to scrutinize current practices and to gain an enhanced appreciation of the importance of diversity hiring for student success. • 1st Year: Answer the question, “Are there legitimate concerns with hiring female faculty in STEM departments?”

2. Specific Outcomes • Use IR data to build a snapshot of recruitment, hiring and retention of female faculty over the last 12 years. • Assemble benchmark data for the University by using the NSF indictors. • Construct a profile of current recruitment practices from interviews with search chairs and review of search plans with comparisons to national best practices. • Create a profile of female faculty candidate’s perceptions of hiring practices with suggestions for improvements. • Produce and disseminate a synopsis of findings regarding current practices for recruitment and retention of women faculty that is persuasive and enables change.

3. Snapshot of Women Faculty in 10 STEM Departments at The University of Akron

4. Percentage of Women Faculty at in Certain STEM Disciplines NSF 2006: Engineering nationwide was 11%

5. Other Information Related to NSF Indicators for UA between 1999 - 2009 • A higher percentage of men faculty (with the same number of years at the associate rank as women faculty) are promoted to full professor. • A higher percentage of male faculty have resigned between 1999 and 2009.

6. Project Links to UA’s Theme • Our hypothesis is that departments are unaware of how current recruitment and hiring practices can be an obstacle to diverse hiring. • Upper administration as well as departmental faculty must be convinced of the need for change as well as the benefits. • To change current practices will require an accurate and compelling report of the current status. • Results from this first year will serve as the foundation for the next annual project which will focus on implementing best practices.

7. How this 1st Year Project will Increase Participation of Female Faculty • Raise awareness, What are the issues? Have we looked at our practices thru a different lens? • Boost attitude of current female faculty that gender issues are on the radar. • Augment current HR efforts to educate search committees on the broad issues of hiring for diversity. • Assist in defining data collection categories and corresponding annual reports related to diversity recruitment, hiring and retention.

8. Summary of Meeting with Team Coach • Outcome statements and details of the implementation plan now contain more exact wording. • Stronger focus on the end-product for this 1st year; data collection and analysis must be useful not simply informative, our report must be compelling and non-confrontational to faculty and administrators.

10. Percentage of Women in STEM Fields Nationwide

11. Percentage of Women Faculty at The University of Akron in Certain STEM Disciplines NSF 2006 Nationwide : Psychology was 50%; Engineering was 11%; Mathematics was 20%;