Institutional transformation at a large private technical university: Reporting on the accomplishments of a combined data driven top-down and bottom-up approach

The underrepresentation of women faculty in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has been studied for several decades. Many programs have been developed with a bottom-up approach toward addressing this underrepresentation. While these bottom-up approaches are an important component in addressing the underrepresentation, the question arises as to their sufficiency for transforming an institution to address the issue. Another method considers the combined use of a bottom-up and a top-down approach in looking toward the goal of institutional transformation by removing barriers to resources that support career success and creating new interventions and resources. This paper reports on the progress of programming and activities that are underway during the first two years of an institutional transformation project (NSF ADVANCE 1209115) at a large-private technical university that incorporates this combined approach. The transformation is outlined using a multi-frame organizational analysis approach from Bolman and Deal, which integrates several aspects of organizational theory, including structural, human resources, political and symbolic perspectives. Data used to inform the top-down and bottom-up programming and activities is presented, as well as a discussion of milestones, accomplishments and lessons learned in the context of the overarching project goals and the framework posed by Bolman and Deal's lenses.

I. Introduction

The number of women obtaining doctoral degrees in the STEM fields has been increasing for many decades. However, women continue to be significantly underrepresented in academic positions in almost all STEM fields [2]. Additionally, women do not proportionally fill leadership roles and advance to senior professorial ranks in all fields, not only STEM disciplines. The research has shown many external factors affect women's achievement and representation in STEM academic positions including such things as implicit and explicit bias, work-life balance demands, and stereotype threat. These factors cumulatively impact the number of women who persist and advance in STEM academic careers. In response to the need for a more diverse and globally competitive workforce, the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) ADVANCE program supports projects that develop systematic approaches to increase the representation and advancement of women in STEM academic careers [3].