Presentation from ICWES 15 Conference - July 2011, Australia

1. ADVANCE – Recruitment and Retention of Women in STEM
– Accomplishments of The University of Illinois at Chicago’s (UIC)
Women in Science and Engineering
System Transformation (WISEST)
http://www.uic.edu/depts/oaa/wisest/
Manorama M. Khare, PhD; Mo-Yin Tam, PhD
International Conference for Women Engineers and Scientists
July, 2011

2. Outline
• WISEST Goal
• WISEST Strategies
• Recruitment
• Retention
• Evaluation

3. 3
WISEST at UIC addresses:
• Underrepresentation of women in STEM fields
▫ Recruitment - unconscious gender bias, pipeline
▫ Retention - isolation, work-life balance
• Lack of STEM women in leadership
▫ Insufficient mentoring and networking opportunities
▫ Pipeline
• Overall climate

4. Goal of WISEST
To increase the number,
participation, and
leadership status of
women - minority and
majority, in academic
science and engineering
through institutional
transformation.

5. WISEST Strategies
• Strategy 1: Warm the climate & decrease the isolation of women STEM
faculty.
• Strategy 2: Pilot initiatives to attract and recruit women minority faculty.
• Strategy 3: Transform STEM departments to foster diversity and women’s
leadership.
• Strategy 4: Promote STEM women scholarship and teaching.
• Strategy 5: Improve the ability to track and report on gender equity in
STEM.

6. Warm the climate - Increase in number of
women in STEM
• Number of STEM women faculty increased from
 33 in Fall 2005 to 51 in Fall 2011
• WISEST supported through start-up monies
 14 of 18 women hires
 3 of 5 URM women hires
• TT women faculty in STEM
 Increased from 31% in 2005 to 44% in 2010

7. Tenured & Tenure Track STEM Faculty at UIC
300
Number of Male and Female Faculty
(14.6%) (15.0%) (18.5%) (22.4%)
(13.4%)
250 (20.3%)
33 37 37 47 48 49
200
Females
150
Males
100 214 216 210 207 201 192
50
0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Advance Grant Year
Number in parenthesis represent the percentage of total STEM faculty that are women

8. Decrease Isolation - WISEST Facilitator Model
• WISEST facilitators are tenured faculty
• Act as liaisons between STEM
departments, WISEST leadership and broader
UIC community.
• Grassroots voice in the department
• Implement initiatives
• Develop climate action plans for their department
• Work with STEM faculty to inform them about
important WISEST issues and departmental
meetings.

9. Decrease Isolation - WISER Fund
Used to support research, travel, work during life
cycle event
• 21 awards made between AY2006 –AY 2010 (total
amount awarded $ 94,652)
• 6 awards supported faculty during periods of intense care giving.
• 15 awards provided research support for conference travels and
lab supplies

10. Decrease Isolation - Mentoring Initiatives
• Designed to provide departmental support for STEM women
through active mentorship by senior faculty by:
o Integrating the faculty member within the department
o Providing access to various learning opportunities
o Reviewing publication submissions and presentations, and guiding the
development of an independent research program
o Providing advice and feedback on the STEM woman’s teaching
• Range of mentoring initiatives, vary by department and needs of faculty

11. Implemented Work-Life Friendly Policies
• Automatic Tenure Hold Policy: Policy is automatic, no
need for request nor approval, can opt out.
• Modified Teaching Duties Policy: Faculty members who
have a new child will be granted a period of modified
teaching duties without a reduction in effort or salary.
• Infant/Toddler/Child Care Resource and Referral Service:
Provides referrals to confirmed openings for care (and
emergency back up care) provided by consultants available
24/7, 365 days of the year.

12. WISEST Strategies
• Strategy 1: Warm the climate & decrease the isolation of women STEM
faculty.
• Strategy 2: Pilot initiatives to attract and recruit women minority faculty.
• Strategy 3: Transform STEM departments to foster diversity and women’s
leadership.
• Strategy 4: Promote STEM women scholarship and teaching.
• Strategy 5: Improve the ability to track and report on gender equity in
STEM.

13. WISEST Postdoctoral Research Associates for
Academic Diversity
• Unique 2-year pilot initiative designed to help STEM women
post doc scholars, particularly Underrepresented Minority
Women (URM), prepare for faculty careers.
• Key features include:
• A research proposal written jointly with a faculty member
• A strong mentoring team
• Postdoctoral Institute

14. 14
WISEST Postdoctoral Research Associates for
Academic Diversity
5 URM women STEM postdocs selected from a pool of
28 applicants
At the end of the 2 year program
• 3 obtained TT positions in research universities
• 1 obtained a research faculty position

15. 15
SUCCEED
(Supporting UIC’s Commitment to a Community of Excellence,
Equity and Diversity)
Designed to train faculty on search committees to attract and
retain talented and diverse women in STEM fields.
 Training conducted by research-active senior faculty
 Create an awareness about unconscious gender bias in the
evaluation of candidates.
 Provides a toolkit
 Deans of the STEM colleges require the search committee’s to do
the training
 Has been expanded to include training of P&T committees

16. WISEST Strategies
• Strategy 1: Warm the climate & decrease the isolation of women STEM
faculty.
• Strategy 2: Pilot initiatives to attract and recruit women minority faculty.
• Strategy 3: Transform STEM departments to foster diversity and women’s
leadership.
• Strategy 4: Promote STEM women scholarship and teaching.
• Strategy 5: Improve the ability to track and report on gender equity in
STEM.

17. Networking Initiatives
Includes: Leadership seminars, visiting scholars, informal drop-in
lunchtimes, semi-annual networking luncheons
• reduces isolation
• provides opportunities to network
with peers, interact socially
• creates a sense of community
among women faculty colleagues.

18. Promoting Scholarship
• Departmental support &
nominations for awards
• In just one academic
year, AY 2006-07 to AY
2008-09 STEM women
received 8 (29%) of 28
prestigious external
awards, including 5
CAREER and 2 Sloan
Awards

19. WAPI (WISEST Assistant Professor
Initiative) Seminars
• Modeled after the WISEST Postdoctoral Institute
• Mentoring seminar series tailored for early career faculty
(Assistant Professors)
• to provide information and skills to support faculty working towards
tenure

20. WISEST Strategies
• Strategy 1: Warm the climate & decrease the isolation of women STEM
faculty.
• Strategy 2: Pilot initiatives to attract and recruit women minority faculty.
• Strategy 3: Transform STEM departments to foster diversity and women’s
leadership.
• Strategy 4: Promote STEM women scholarship and teaching.
• Strategy 5: Improve the ability to track and report on gender equity in
STEM.

21. Role of Evaluation
• The challenge of institutional
data
• Data driven decision making
• Triangulation of qualitative &
quantitative data
• Studies – salary equity, climate
survey, child care survey

22. 22
Questions??
For more information:
http://www.uic.edu/depts/oaa/wisest/