President’s Commission on the Status of Women

Guidelines for Including Gender Equity Issues in Diversity Action Plans President’s Commission on the Status of Women May 2006 President’s Commission on the Status of Women

Concern: Women in all employment categories experience disproportionate challenges with family leave and other life responsibilities Remedy 1: Examine family leave policies at the University level and make sure there is clarity and consistency with various processes (leave with/without pay, tenure clock issues, children in workplace, childcare) President’s Commission on the Status of Women Workload and Work/Life Balance

Remedy 2: Each college should have someone who acts as liaison with Human Resources to provide information to faculty, staff, graduate assistants that might be pertinent to family leave, work/life balance and workload inequity Workload and Work/Life Balance President’s Commission on the Status of Women

Remedy 3: Charge the LifeBalance OSU Committee to examine best practices at Research I Universities and find ways that colleges and administrative units can create practices that support those faculty, staff and students who have family leave issues Workload and Work/Life Balance President’s Commission on the Status of Women

Concern: Spouse/partner employment is not adequately addressed Remedy: Find ways of enhancing partner hires, researching what other campuses are doing, and regularly communicating with regional colleges, universities and companies about employment opportunities President’s Commission on the Status of Women Workload and Work/Life Balance

Concern: Women faculty report spending a higher percentage of their time in teaching, advising and service Remedy: Conduct an analysis of faculty time at the college level and correct inequities; and/or develop a reward process for service. President’s Commission on the Status of Women Workload and Work/Life Balance

Concern: OSU often cannot compete for top women because of salary limitations, the homogeneity of Corvallis, inadequate family friendly policies and lack of dual career employment program Remedy: Immediately correct those concerns that we are able to correct and invest time/money now to be able to attract excellent faculty in the future. President’s Commission on the Status of Women Representational Parity

Concern: There has been no salary equity study since 1997, nor has OSU looked at non-salary compensation (start-up packages, research lab space, support staff, travel funds, office space) Remedy: Conduct a university-wide salary equity study and a study of other forms of compensation Salary Equity President’s Commission on the Status of Women

Concern: There has not been a salary equity study involving non-tenure track employees Remedy: Conduct ongoing salary equity studies at the College/ Administrative Unit level annually with an all-university study every three-five years President’s Commission on the Status of Women Salary Equity

Concern: Women in classified ranks are missing from the highly compensated, skilled crafts Remedy: Make a concerted effort to hire more women in these positions President’s Commission on the Status of Women Salary Equity

Concern: There are few mentors for women, particularly women of color, in leadership positions at OSU Remedy 1: Establish an annual administrative internship for a woman faculty member who wishes to develop leadership capacity (Cost: .5 FTE buy-out) President’s Commission on the Status of Women Professional Development and Advancement

Remedy 2: Develop a mentor program for new faculty within each college to encourage and guide them through the P & T process Remedy 3: Develop a mentor program for classified staff and professional faculty to assist them in their professional development President’s Commission on the Status of Women Professional Development and Advancement

Concern: Classified staff and professional faculty face difficulties in identifying opportunities for professional development as well as inconsistent policies for release time Professional Development and Advancement President’s Commission on the Status of Women

Remedy: Assist staff in finding professional development opportunities (post opportunities on Human Resources website) and strongly encourage supervisors to provide release time. Ask supervisors to document and report professional development at end of each fiscal year. President’s Commission on the Status of Women Professional Development and Advancement

Professional Development and Advancement President’s Commission on the Status of Women • Concern: Implementation of promotion and tenure guidelines fails to reward “service” and non-traditional scholarship • Remedy: Refer this to the Faculty Senate Promotion and Tenure Committee for action in 2006-07

Institutional Culture: Inclusion President’s Commission on the Status of Women Concern: Women classified staff feel excluded from full participation in goals of the institution Remedy: Develop a process for classified staff to more easily join university and college committees, participate in decision making and be a part of department and college strategic planning (i.e. DAP’s, climate assessment)

Institutional Culture: Inclusion President’s Commission on the Status of Women Concern: Women report that their harassment and bias concerns have been minimized Remedy: Departments and Colleges should widely publicize the Bias Response Team, sexual harassment policies and campus resources. All employees should engage in sexual harassment training annually.

Sample Diversity Action Plan Goal President’s Commission on the Status of Women Goal: Provide annually, leadership training support for at least two minority and/or women faculty Outcome: To recognize the importance of minority/women faculty leadership

Sample Diversity Action Plan Goal President’s Commission on the Status of Women Goal: Provide professional development opportunities for each professional faculty/classified staff member in department Outcome: To establish a continuous improvement process and help the advancement of staff within the institution

Sample Diversity Action Plan Goal President’s Commission on the Status of Women Goal: Perform bi-annual salary analysis of under-represented faculty, staff, administrators (by gender) and make equity adjustments for unexplained deviations from the norm. Outcome: To ensure pay equity for persons similarly situated.

Sample Diversity Action Plan Goal President’s Commission on the Status of Women Goal: Revise administrator evaluation tools to hold them accountable for promoting diversity/gender-equity and link their diversity/affirmative action performance to reappointment and performance rewards Outcome: To tie administrator actions to performance rewards

Sample Diversity Action Plan Goal President’s Commission on the Status of Women Goal: Assign college representative to review consistency in tenure clock delay, family care issues and other work-life balance factors. Outcome: To ensure junior tenure-track faculty (and other employees) have an adequate opportunity to be successful.

Beth Rietveld, Women’s Center Rebecca Concepcion, Nutrition & Exercise Science Naomi Hirsch, Environmental Health Sciences Center Tina Bull, Music Karen Higgins, Education Betu Herrera-Idica, Music Submitted by Members of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women Leadership Team on May 3, 2006 President’s Commission on the Status of Women

President’s Commission on the Status of Women