Understanding the Barriers to Institutional Success in STEM at Central Michigan University

Central Michigan University (CMU) will implement an ADVANCE Catalyst project to undertake faculty climate campus survey, focus group interviews with STEM faculty at CMU, interviews with STEM faculty who left CMU and candidates who turned down employment offers. The project will include document and institutional data analyses to understand the barriers to success for STEM women faculty at CMU. Furthermore, the project will analyze how these barriers are similar or different depending on the academic department, race/ethnicity, and/or world region of origin. The project team will visit other ADVANCE institutions to learn about their success and struggles with similar issues and will invite expert speakers to come to CMU. They will host a pilot implicit bias training program for faculty in STEM departments and learn more about implicit bias and how it plays out in the CMU workplace to inform the development of the faculty equity strategic plan. This two-year project will prepare the university for future data collection and data analyses of faculty equity which can be used by institutional leadership to inform decision-making. The Catalyst work will also prepare the institution to implement evidence-based strategies to enhance the university climate for all faculty which will be outlined in a five-year faculty equity strategic plan that will be produced as part of this project.

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 'Catalyst' awards provide support for institutional equity assessments and the development of five-year faculty equity strategic plans at an academic, non-profit institution of higher education.

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.