The Equity in STEM “First Look”

Produced by the ARC Network, the Equity in STEM “First Look” is a quarterly
digital publication that disseminates evidence-based systemic initiatives through
multimedia elements, including presentations, promising practices, white papers,
videos, podcasts and webinars. Each curated issue allows peers from the ARC
Network Community to share content at all stages of development, facilitating early
adoption and implementation and broadening our impact.

Funded by the National Science Foundation ADVANCE Program, Award HRD-1740860, the ADVANCE Resource and Coordination
(ARC) Network seeks to achieve gender equity for faculty in higher education science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) disciplines. As the STEM equity brain trust, the ARC Network recognizes the achievements made so far while producing new
perspectives, methods and interventions with an intersectional, intentional and inclusive lens. The leading advocate for women in
STEM the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) serves as the backbone organization of the ARC Network. Learn more about the
ARC Network at www.EquityInSTEM.org.
UNH UNBIASED: Leadership Development and Policy Change to
Promote Institutional Transformation

Abstract at Time of Award

The University of New Hampshire (UNH) ADVANCE Institutional Transformation program, in

keeping with the institution's mission of inclusive excellence, has as its overall goal to increase
the number, retention and success of women faculty in the STEM disciplines. Based upon
careful analysis of a University climate survey, several strategies are employed that include, but
are not limited to strategic changes in recruitment and retention policies and practices;
department chair professional development; formal mentoring policies; a wage equity analysis;
and, flexible workplace policies. Coupled with these strategies is a rigorous social science study
aimed at investigating the impact of gender equity institutional transformation on the
representation and job satisfaction of women faculty at UNH. It is expected that results from
this project and outcomes of the research study will seminally inform the current gender equity
literature. Thus, this project has the potential to serve as a model for other institutions who
identify comparable challenges in hiring, promoting, and, in general, advancing women STEM
faculty.

Project Outcomes Report

The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is the state’s flagship, mid-size, public, research-
intensive university. In 2012, UNH received funding from the National Science Foundation’s
ADVANCE Institutional Transformation (IT) program to initiate sustainable institutional
transformation in order to increase the number, retention, and success of women STEM
faculty.

To increase the number of women STEM faculty through hiring, UNH ADVANCE developed
GEAR UP (Gender Equity and Recruitment of Underrepresented People), a workshop whose
purpose is to increase awareness of, and learn ways to overcome, unconscious bias in faculty
searches. The program consists of an interactive theater session depicting a faculty search
process followed by facilitated discussion. To-date, 319 faculty and staff involved in faculty
hiring have attended GEAR UP. In workshop evaluations, 94% of participants indicate that they
would recommend GEAR UP to colleagues. Analysis of annual faculty climate survey data over
time reveal that GEAR UP significantly improved faculty perceptions of the search committee
process as equitable. Importantly, women faculty perceptions of the fairness of the search
process improved over time such that significant gender differences in 2013 were no longer
significant in 2017. Interviews conducted by the External Evaluator show that, after having
attended GEAR UP, search committee members reported giving extra attention to using
explicit, objective criteria in assessing applicants and that GEAR UP provided participants with a
vocabulary for addressing inequities that occurred in the search process.

The impact of GEAR UP on faculty hiring is also evident in changes in faculty composition from
2012 to 2018. In 2012, 19.5% of the 251 STEM faculty members were women. By Academic
Year 2018-2019, the percent of women STEM faculty had increased by 46.1% to 28.5% of STEM
faculty. An increase of 110% in the number of STEM women at the assistant professor rank
from 10 in 2012 to 21 in 2018-2019 can be attributed, at least in part, to a change in hiring
practices.

In 2012, only 12 out of 44, or 27.3% of STEM faculty women were full professors rank, while
103 out of 171 (or 60.2%) of STEM faculty men were full professors. In contrast, in 2018-2019,
20 out of 61 (or 32.8%) of STEM faculty women are at the full professor rank and 76 out of 153
(or 49.7%) of STEM faculty men are full professors. This change in the make-up of faculty at the
top level of their profession, aided by an increase in the number of promotions for women and
retirements for men, is likely to have a sustained effect through improved gender balance
among faculty in leadership positions.

To improve support and department-level climate for STEM faculty women, UNH ADVANCE
developed and implemented a department chair professional development program in the
spring of 2014. Participation was organized by cohort in order to facilitate evaluation of any
resulting change in workplace climate. Promising early faculty climate survey results show that
in the two years following the training, women faculty in the first cohort reported significant
increases over time in job satisfaction and perceived fairness of department processes. In
addition, women faculty perceptions of the fairness of department processes also improved
over time such that significant gender differences in 2013 are no longer significant in 2017.
These results offer a preliminary indication of reduced gender bias and improved department
climate during the course of the grant.

UNH ADVANCE developed and implemented “Pathways to Tenure” a three-session mentoring

workshop for assistant professors. Workshop goals include understanding promotion and
tenure requirements, finding advice from department- and college-level committees and
navigating work-life balance. Since its inception in 2014, 87 assistant professors attended the
workshop. Pre- and post- workshop surveys revealed significant improvements in attendee
knowledge of the college level promotion and tenure processes and of UNH’s tenure clock
extension and family leave policies. Overall, 93% of post-test respondents felt better prepared
for the promotion and tenure process and agreed or strongly agreed that they would
recommend the program to their colleagues.

UNH ADVANCE benchmarked other universities’ policies and worked closely with the UNH
Chapter of the American Association of University Professors during negotiations in 2015 to
incorporate contract provisions to facilitate faculty work-family balance. For example, in the
current collective bargaining agreement, (1) a tenure clock extension for parental leave now
automatically applies unless a qualifying faculty member explicitly undertakes to opt-out of the
benefit; (2) 12 weeks parental leave is now provided to both parents even if they both work at
UNH; and (3) a new modified duties option is provided for faculty members dealing with
qualifying events under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Overall, ADVANCE has been a transformative force across the UNH campus and will be
sustained through institutional support of the UNH ADVANCE office within the Provost’s Office.