ADVANCE Catalyst: Reflecting, Assessing, and Improving Intersectional Equitable Practices with STEM Faculty

This project aims to assess equity among STEM faculty at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC), a relatively young institution founded in 2006, which has a large, diverse STEM faculty who have worked at the institution since its early days. It has a significant percentage of faculty who identify as women (~50%) and with historically excluded (HE) racial/ethnic groups (~18%). GGC has several unique characteristics as compared to traditional institutions of higher education. This Catalyst Project offers a unique opportunity to understand the rapid evolution of a diverse faculty body over a short period; investigate the factors that attracted and retained a large number of HE faculty; and investigate any barriers that may have impeded their professional growth. GGC’s large number of HE STEM faculty provides a large sample size for data analysis that can provide statistically significant results. This has the potential of making significant contributions to the research on diversity and equity in STEM and ensuring equity in the long term for the GGC faculty. Through this project, Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) aims to take a data-driven approach to assess equity among its STEM faculty, particularly among faculty identifying with historically excluded (HE) groups, such as those who identify as women and/or as belonging to specific racial/ethnic groups. This study will help identify the factors that contribute to the recruitment, retention, and advancement of HE faculty at a diverse, minority-serving, open-access institution. By collecting and analyzing data from multiple sources (such as demographic data, salary data, time at rank, surveys, focus groups, interviews, official policies and guidelines, annual evaluations, etc.), the study will identify the policies and practices that lead to recruitment, retention, and advancement of faculty identifying with HE groups in STEM disciplines. This data analysis will also help identify any inequities that might affect STEM faculty at the college. In collaboration with key administrators at GGC through an internal advisory board, the project aims to create a five-year strategic plan to address any inequities that are discovered during this self-assessment. This strategic plan will also identify existing practices that need to be retained to maintain an equitable workplace for STEM faculty at GGC and can be shared with the wider academic community for broader implementation. The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE "Catalyst" awards provide support for institutional equity assessments and the development of five-year faculty equity strategic plans at an academic, non-profit institution of higher education. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.