The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $1 million to Missouri S&T in support of their efforts to attract, advance and retain more women faculty in their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.
The three-year project will be led by associate professor of psychological science, Dr. Jessica Cundiff. The project is intended to increase the representation of women, especially women from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups on the faculty of Missouri S&T STEM programs and various leadership positions.
The NSF ADVANCE project provides grants to help colleges and universities improve gender equity in STEM fields.
Missouri S&T’s student body is predominantly male, with 23% of them being women. Cundiff believes that if there are more women instructors in their classrooms, this could help draw more students into STEM fields.
“Increasing the representation of women faculty at Missouri S&T has the potential to transform what it means to become an engineer to citizens in the region and make Missouri S&T a true destination of choice for all,” Cundiff says.
As of right now, 47 of the 227 STEM faculty at S&T are women and only two of the women identify with a racial-ethnic group that is underrepresented in STEM fields.
Cundiff and Dr. Colin Potts, Missouri S&T provost and executive vice chancellor of academic affairs, have come together to work on this project and strive towards improvement.
The team has identified three barriers to the recruitment and advancement of women in STEM at S&T and has already identified three strategies to help improve this. The team came up with the following:
“1.Provide education and leadership development opportunities for current and aspiring leaders at S&T.
2.Provide grants to individual academic programs to develop approaches to address equity issues specific to their programs.
3. Establish a faculty fellows program for faculty who want to become equity-minded academic leaders as well as an ombud position in the provost’s office to give voice to faculty concerns”.
The project will be managed under a new Center for Inclusive Excellence and will measure success through an array of approaches.
