ASSESSING ACADEMIC CLIMATE CHANGE IN GENDER DIVERSITY IN THE AREAS OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Abstract

This paper presents results of two climate surveys conducted at an institution of higher education as an evaluation effort of the effectiveness of the National Science Foundation's ADVANCE initiative, the purpose of which is to facilitate academic climate change in the areas of science and engineering. The ADVANCE initiative administered a series of institution-wide programs encompassing a span of five years aimed at improving the academic climate through policies and procedures at the institutional level. The purpose of the paper is to assess the effectiveness of the ADVANCE grant initiative. Effectiveness is measured by the changes in institutional climate in terms of attitudes toward gender diversity and increase in representation and advancement of female faculty in science and engineering. The climate surveys administered at the beginning and at the end of the ADVANCE initiative targeted all male and female tenure-track and tenured faculty in 18 science and engineering departments. The results showed that the gender-based differences in the assessment of institutional climate observed at the beginning of the initiative lessened or became insignificant at the end of the initiative. The results also revealed overall improvement of climate in the areas of hiring, promotion and tenure, resources for research and teaching, attitudes toward gender diversity.