Methods
Survey
A brief survey was sent by email to all faculty on campus in late September of 2022 to complete anonymously by early-mid October (2022); about a one-month timeframe. Two weeks after the initial email containing the survey was sent, a second email was sent to faculty as a reminder to participate in the survey if they had not done so already.
Total faculty
The survey had a total response rate of 24% (91 participants). 42 participants were faculty in the targeted departments (TD) in STEM. With 112 TD participating faculty, yielding a response rate of 37.5%.
STEM faculty
In total, there were 76 male and 36 female faculty members in the STEM departments when the survey was conducted (2022-2023). The 9 departments analyzed and referenced as "STEM fields" include: Biology, Computer Science & IT, Mathematics, Physical Science, Anthropology/Sociology, Criminal Justice, Geography, Psychology, and Philosophy & Government. Of the survey participants in the targeted STEM departments, 18 respondents were male (23%), and 15 were female (42%).
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Survey questions
Questions used on the survey that was distributed to faculty can be found here.
exit interviews
Exit interviews conducted from January 2018 to June 2022 by Human Resources were collected for in-depth analysis and comparison of current trends.
A total of 42 exit interviews were conducted during this time. Of the 42 interviews, 17 participants were men (43% of total faculty retiring/resigning) and 25 were women (68% of total faculty retiring/resigning). Questions used in exit interviews were open-ended, and responses were content-coded to analyze relevant data trends.
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Exit Interview questions
Questions used in the exit interviews conducted with faculty can be found here.
individual faculty interviews
All female faculty in STEM fields received an email invitation to participate in individual faculty interviews (May 2023-June 2023) intended to contextualize concerns that had arisen from the survey results. 14 female STEM faculty members volunteered to participate in individual interviews. Each interview lasted about 1 hour and was conducted by an external evaluator to maintain anonymity.
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Individual Interview questions
Questions used in the individual interviews conducted with faculty can be found here.
Resources
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Academic Facilitator Toolkit
University of Arizona - Prevention Research Center, 2021
Inspired by the principles of Transformative Justice (TJ), this toolkit provides tools for facilitators working in academia to set up a transformative space to facilitate meetings with guidelines for how to create and use community agreements. This toolkit aims to address white supremacy in academic culture, create space for honest conversations, and reduce harm to BIPOC in academic settings while engaging in anti-racist institutional change.
This link will open a PDF copy of this resource in another tab.
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Shared Decision Making
University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2022
UMass ADVANCE survey results indicate that women faculty are less clear on personnel processes than men, and women faculty members from underrepresented racial minority groups are the least clear on tenure and promotion processes. This checklist is for department chairs/heads to assess departmental shared decision-making and create equitable practices that will support the inclusion and retention of women faculty and faculty of color.
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Retaining Diverse Department Faculties
North Carolina State University, 2014
Most department heads and faculty members agree that having a diverse faculty is a desirable goal, but many departments have serious difficulties in moving towards it. This brochure is a compilation of strategies for retaining a diverse faculty suggested by the site visits and discussions with many NC State department heads and faculty members.
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Retaining Diverse Department Faculties: A Guide for Department Heads