INTRODUCTION

Iowa State University (ISU) proposes a Comprehensive Institutional Intervention plan, a multi-level approach for increasing participation and advancement of women in science and engineering, and institutionalizing changes to university policies and practices. This plan is feasible given:

• the centrality of both diversity and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines to ISU's 2005-2010 Strategic Plan;


• the firm support of the Provost, three deans and nine department chairs involved; and


• the University's prior planning (3 years) for the grant. Since hosting a 2002 NSF-sponsored conference on women in STEM, ISU ADVANCE TEAM has built a network of faculty and administrators who have participated in ISU STEM retreats for women; hosted national experts on diversity; and developed and revised key policies. Based on data collected at two ISU STEM faculty retreats (2003, 2005) and interviews with STEM women faculty, a team of ISU faculty and administrators has identified obstacles (i.e., known barriers) to the advancement and retention of female STEM faculty.

The ISU ADVANCE project's primary components will address known barriers to participation and advancement of women STEM faculty at ISU, including women of color, as well as barriers specific to the departments and colleges in which STEM women work. ISU seeks to remove these barriers by implementing a grassroots model for affecting change from within departments (Participatory Action Model) while also implementing top-down policies for transforming the University. Our primary goals are to:

1. Overcome known barriers to women's advancement across ISU STEM fields by improving perceived levels of departmental transparency, reducing isolation from colleagues, improving quality and quantity of mentoring, and institutionalizing career flexibility.


2. Overcome department-specific barriers to women's advancement in STEM by working with department chairs and faculty to improve department and university climate for women and historically underrepresented groups and to implement best practices guidelines.


3. Institutionalize positive changes at the university level by increasing awareness among and the proportion of top administrators actively supporting institutional transformation, improving faculty work satisfaction and organizational commitment, and reducing work/family conflict.


4. Increase overall participation/advancement of women faculty in senior and leadership ranks by increasing the number of women who submit tenure packets, receive tenure and promotion to full professor, and increasing the proportion of women in university leadership roles.

A Participatory Action Model for Comprehensive Institutional Intervention is an approach developed within the sociology of work and related fields (Ely & Meyerson, 2000a). This model will be particularly effective in reaching senior faculty and administrators who are well intentioned but often unknowingly participate in practices that create a chilly climate for women faculty. It maximizes effectiveness by creating agents of change from within departments.

These agents, in turn, collaborate with university leadership to ameliorate organization-wide problems, and to address the unique needs of departments. Our model focuses on departmental cultures, practices, structures, and overall structure of the university to develop the most appropriate, self-sustaining change strategies.

ISU will implement the Participatory Action Model in select focal departments over the grant period, and will use data from these departments to evaluate the program's effectiveness and develop templates for university-wide dissemination. By implementing department interventions and top-down policies simultaneously, we seek to illuminate both subtle and overt impediments to equity, and design strategies to dissolve them, thus transforming ISU into an institution that facilitates retention and advancement of women and all underrepresented groups. Efforts funded by the grant will enhance ISU's commitment to serve a diverse campus community.


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