ADVANCE Adaptation: Institutionalizing Normative Changes for Recruitment, Empowerment, Advancement, and Systematic Equity for STEM Faculty (INCREASE)

The Florida State University (FSU) ADVANCE Adaptation project INCREASE aims to improve the workplace culture and climate for all STEM faculty at FSU. This work will build on current efforts to increase the recruitment, empowerment, advancement, and systemic equity of underrepresented faculty in STEM fields. This project adapts national and institutional best practices for contextually relevant and sustainable change. The project focuses on adaptations for systemic change at the STEM department and college level. The key initiatives include implementing equity-focused policy initiatives; empowering faculty with mentored cohort networks internal and external to FSU; and enhancing understanding of department-specific issues and opportunities. FSU ADVANCE will generate knowledge on patterns in STEM faculty experiences. Best practices learned will be shared with other institutions as well as STEM partners represented on our advisory board, regional and national networks, and federal laboratories. The FSU project will strategically integrate coordination with the AAAS SEA Change initiative which is a national effort to recognize excellence in efforts to support diversity, equity and inclusion by institutions of higher education. This project attends to the experiences and challenges of women of color STEM faculty that are underrepresented in STEM academic careers. FSU ADVANCE will assess the impact of the adaptations over time, for departments, cohorts, and individual faculty. Reports, publications, policy dissemination, and project activities will be shared on the FSU ADVANCE website. 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 "Adaptation" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education as well as non-academic, non-profit organizations. 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.