by Susan Griffith

With a prestigious grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Case Western Reserve University will be setting the national standards for work environments that promote women in science and engineering.

Case, in collaboration with Lubrizol Corp. and Fisk University, will use the five-year, $3.5 million NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award to implement a plan to advance women in science and engineering and to enhance diversity at the University.

This innovative "blueprint" will become a national model, called Academic Careers in Engineering and Science (ACES), for how research universities can recruit and retain women scientists and engineers.

"Findings from the program will inform other universities about how to tackle the problem of the leaky academic pipeline, which leads to the loss of talented women faculty in science and engineering," said Lynn Singer, interim provost and Case's ADVANCE project director.

ACES' goal is to increase women faculty in the sciences and engineering by 20 percent in the next five years.

For the past five years, the number of women scientists at Case has remained at 22 percent of the faculty. Women students comprise 37 percent of enrollment, while the national average is 55 percent.

The two-phase ACES plan impacts 29 departments across campus and entails cooperation from all levels of Case's leadership.

President Edward M. Hundert said he is committed to seeking support for five endowed professorships to attract senior women faculty in science and engineering. The commitment for the chairs totals more than $10 million.

ACES annually will fund 10 distinguished lectureships for visiting women scientists
and engineers. These lecturers will be on campus for one to two weeks and will give numerous talks.

"The ADVANCE award enables the University to employ a range of incentives and resources to stimulate university-wide change," Singer said.

In Phase I—the first two years of the project-four test departments will undergo intensive change. The deans, associate deans, department chairs and women faculty in the departments of chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences, mechanical and aerospace engineering in the Case School of Engineering, physiology and biophysics in the School of Medicine and organizational behavior at the Weatherhead School of Management will receive coaching to set goals and to map out action plans.

In the test departments, all women faculty members will have a three-member mentoring team-comprised of a senior department faculty member, an external mentor from the faculty member's field and a senior faculty member from a related department at Case-to help the faculty member develop her career.

According to Singer, studies over the past three decades have shown that students place exceptional demands and expectations upon women in the sciences and have conscious or underlying biases. Under ACES, all incoming undergraduate and graduate students will attend training to overcome preconceived stereotypes and become more sensitive to women in the workplace.

In Phase II, the piloted coaching and mentoring will be expanded to other departments.
Over the next five years, ACES also will work closely with Case's Center for Women in a variety of activities and workshops that professionally advance women.

In addition, the University plans to network with Lubrizol Corp., which successfully implemented practices to transform the $1.8 billion, Cleveland-based company's workplace to an environment that advances women.

In other efforts to improve diversity, Case will strengthen its collaboration with Fisk University
by inviting members of Fisk's faculty as ADVANCE visiting professors. They will interact with the women faculty and to help build a pipeline of minority students and faculty. The University also will expand opportunities for minority students to engage in research.

"Institutional change requires the hearts and minds of everyone in the organization. It must really be a mindset for change," said Diana Bilimoria, associate professor of organizational behavior from the Weatherhead School of Management and ACES co-director.

Other ACES co-directors are Mary Barkley, professor of chemistry from the College of Arts and Sciences, and John Angus, professor of chemical engineering from the Case School of Engineering.

Return to the online edition of the 8-28-03 Campus News.

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