Last year, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the NSF career life balance initiative. In the February 2012 Manage Your Career Article The Next Step for Female Scientists by Mary Ann Mason, some disconnects between this initiative (including grant clock stop policies for PIs) and an institution's family leave benefits for faculty, graduate students and post-docs are explored. The author points out the move by NSF is important, but it is only the first step: Read also the NSF Dear Colleague Letter about the Career-Life Balance (CLB) Initiative. Lehigh's work-life policies for faculty include flexibility on the tenure clock for life-events, and evaluators must not increase expectations for meeting tenure for tenure candidates who receive extensions.
Research suggests women may be drawn more to collaborative and interdisciplinary research. Lehigh ADVANCE will shed light on to what extent and how interdisciplinary work is gendered, not only in terms of participation but in terms of outcomes.
