networking: lessons learned from hunter college’s gender equity project

Networking: Lessons Learned from Hunter College’s Gender Equity Project

THE GENDER EQUITY PROJECT

Networking challenges vary with

Institution type, e.g., Research 1, Doctoral-granting, Liberal Arts, Comprehensive

Larger institutional context, e.g., urban/rural, commuter/residential college, resource rich/resource poor

Department characteristics, e.g., percentage of women, characteristics of chairs, quality of channels of communication

Discipline-related characteristics, e.g., percentage of women, ways of working

Personal and social characteristics of faculty member, e.g., sex, race, self-esteem, shyness, level of productivity, status in the field


About Hunter College

Carnegie Comprehensive in transition, with increasing emphasis on research productivity

High teaching loads and service obligations

Urban, commuter, resource-poor

Short tenure clock

Few family friendly policies

Hunter science departments have a larger percentage of women and underrepresented minorities among faculty than most other schools

Hunter’s GEP targets disciplines from the Natural and Physical Sciences to the Social Sciences, from departments with one woman to departments with nearly 50 percent women


Special challenges for Hunter women faculty

Structural

Few formal and informal faculty development opportunities

Few family friendly polices

Lack of a formal women’s organization/office on campus dedicated to women faculty or gender equity until GEP

System of elected chairs untrained, undercompensated, undersupported. Chairs vary in the extent to which they see themselves as advocates for junior faculty

In a commuter school in a large urban area, students and faculty isolated intellectually and socially and need communities


Special challenges for Hunter women faculty

Individual

Some associates have never had, or have largely lost, strong identities as researchers and scholars

Most associates are not on doctoral faculty and have no access to doctoral students

For those who have not published much, not published in a given area, or have not published in a long time, there may be a need for improved research skills

Need for increased appreciation for what kind of time, commitment, and activities are necessary for success in academic careers


About the GEP sponsorship program

Time and resources for research

$10,000 (in Year 1)

release time

research assistance

Travel

A sponsor

$5,000 (in Year 1)

serves as an intellectual sounding board

provides feedback on papers and career plans

Workshops

Tangible benefits for associates


Our 15 Associates:

Very diverse in all ways:

Two African American women, two Latina women, four Asian women

Assistant to Full Professor

From Sociology to Chemistry; from torture in the Middle East to lanthanide polyoxmetalates

From those with few publications in refereed journals to more than 30 publications; from no grants to history of external funding


Associates define their ideal sponsor variously, including as one who

Is of my race

Will be “gentle with me”

Will “hold my feet to the fire”

Has an affinity for a particular approach to scientific problems is in a specific research area

Has a particular skill set

Is physically close to Hunter College


Networking through sponsors

In the GEP, associates network through their sponsors

Two sponsors have played large roles in two associates getting their first book contracts

Two associates are now collaborating with their sponsors on auspicious new research projects

Two associates have formed significant relationships and found intellectual community at the home institutions of their sponsors

One associate was seriously contemplating leaving academia, but her identity and confidence as an academic are being restored, largely because of her sponsor

Networking (inseparable from mentoring/ sponsoring/ community) is one of the most important and effective aspects of our program.


Networking through GEP Co-Directors

VVV and VCR have different areas of expertise, and that has proven useful to associates. Associates come to us for help with:

Assistance in the tenure and promotion processes

Conflicts in their departments with chairs, technical assistants, and fellow faculty

Corresponding with editors and collaborators

Setting priorities in their career

Conflicts between personal and professional life

“I found it extremely helpful to be able to speak to VVV and VCR candidly about the situations I have been trying to deal with, and they have been outstanding resources for me.”

“From conversations with VCR and VVV, I feel I am (slowly and somewhat painfully) learning a lot about being a professional academic, a scientist in my field.”


Networking through each other

For some of the women, the GEP community is the closest and best professional community they have.

Associates learn that they are not alone in their struggles to balance work and family, find time to write, or revise a rejected article, and exchange ideas

Associates form alliances within and across departments

Two associates who had never before collaborated are putting together a symposium on gender, race, and science

Associates meet informally with each other and support each other personally and professionally


Networking beyond the GEP

Get known by important people in your field

Propose colloquia and panels and invite prominent scientists

Use professional conferences wisely

One associate used the occasion of a conference to get her work known—and herself cited—by a prominent scientist

Get known by important people in your institution

Go to events in the institution that will maximize your visibility.

GEP associates were in force at a recent holiday party

Treat the chair, dean, and others as allies

Be on the lookout for the unexpected—for help from seemingly unlikely sources


All major Sponsorship Program successes are directly or indirectly related to networking:

Importance of writing in a professional career — new personal identity

Mentorship from GEP as well as from sponsor

Understanding reward structure

Intellectual and social communities for associates: learning from each other


Significant challenges remain

Ethnic Minority WomenThere is reason to think that there may be special challenges in networking among minority women.

Race schemas work against minority women in academe

Minorities may be held to higher standards than others and encounter resentment and hostility as tokens

Being small statistical minorities also works against minority women in academic science

In turn, statistical minority status also shapes the expectations and experiences of outgroup members

Anticipation of being stereotyped may lead outgroup members to behave in ways that become self-fulfilling prophecies



Ethnic Minority Women

The literature suggests that strong network ties are useful to people, but minority women are at periphery of social networks and they do not have powerful people advocating for them

Men have stronger network ties at work, and men make much better use of weak ties than women do

Cross race (and sex) relationships are difficult and often weak

When minority scientists are successful and viewed as competent, they are often overwhelmed with requests and opportunities



Ethnic Minority Women

There are heightened pressures for within-group solidarity among underrepresented groups. This solidarity sometimes invites scrutiny and disapproval from those in the majority.

There is evidence that Hispanic and Asian people in organizations are subject to negative stereotypes, but are less likely than African Americans to report exclusion from informal networks



Work Family Issues

These are the some of the hardest issues for academic women, including women who have children, who want children, and who are single mothers. In addition, there are problems intertwining a career with one’s partner.

When to have children: life circumstances and preferences often determine this

If one has children: key is to commit to priorities and stick to them

Stopping the tenure clock: implicit clock still ticks in some minds

Spousal hires: challenges for negotiation

networking: lessons learned from hunter college’s gender equity project

Documents

latina women

doctoral faculty

larger percentage of

asian women assistant

african american women

characteristics of chairs

scholarsmost associates

improved research skills