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%).
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.
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.