Women Sought for Sciences

Advance, a nationally funded recruitment and retention program, is giving women a step-up in their careers in the sciences and engineering on the Columbia campus.
In 2004, Columbia became the 19th institution to receive the National Science Foundation's Advance grant. The program addresses poor retention among female graduate students and faculty, an issue that hinders many women from pursuing careers in the sciences and engineering.
"The objective is to recruit, retain, and advance women scientists and engineers, and the focus is on women faculty and research scientists," said Jennifer Laird, assistant director of Advance. She added that retention problems are more apparent in engineering than in the sciences and that gender disparities are more noticeable in leadership positions and tenure ranks.
According to Laird, the main barriers to the advancement of women include stereotypes and unconscious biases. "As a woman, you are treated slightly differently than male peers. That will have enough of a negative kick to your career so that you're not as competitive when you apply for a faculty position, and you end up at a less prestigious institution."
Robin Bell, director of Advance, said that employers do not think to offer women jobs because they assume that women are less willing to relocate because they are married or have children. "We've been working on how to change hiring practices and to get more women to apply for jobs at the rate we were educating them. We're also tying to make sure they get in at the senior level."
As it set out to address the retention problem, Advance saw the need for a faculty development program on top of its diversity programs, especially for junior faculty.
Advance is currently collaborating with the SEAS Diversity Initiatives Committee, chaired by Patricia Culligan, a civil engineering and engineering mechanics professor.
"The ultimate goal is to train a more diverse workforce that will advance excellence in engineering and applied science," Culligan said. Because of the similarity of goals, she explained, all of the SEAS Diversity Initiatives are coordinated efforts with Advance and Vice Provost for Diversity Initiatives Jean Howard's office.
The joint efforts include workshops for SEAS department chairs and faculty search committee chairs. The two bodies are currently planning a student workshop addressing diversity in the sciences and engineering for February 2007.
"The longer impact is building a group of leaders who believe this is an important goal and who recognize the subtleties in hiring and promotions. We have made some hiring success and training success. Other successes are harder to point to but we're building a new generation of leaders," Bell said.