Throughout the evolution of ADVANCE from an NSF-funded research product, through the transitition to an internally supported center, and now as a core part of the tapestry of faculty experiences at Lehigh, ADVANCE strives to ensure our programs continue to have an impact and can adapt and change as needs of the community either change or become more crystalized. In Summer and Fall 2018, Lehigh ADVANCE conducted another form of evaluation, and the summary was shared to the campus community in Spring 2019.
- Overall, survey respondents emphasized ADVANCE’s capacity to “educate and train” and also placed significant value on ADVANCE’s capacity to make institutional change.
- One key recommendation was to include more faculty with interest and expertise to support ongoing development of content, programs, or ongoing institutional change.
- Continually improve faculty recruitment education (content, format, and reach)
- Department chair professional development is requested to encourage leadership and capacity to foster an inclusive and equitable department climate (especially dealing with conflict and talking about culture)
- Strengthen development and broaden the reach of the men faculty allies and advocates effort.
- Sustain a visible speaker series
- Strengthen faculty mentoring efforts
- Reviewing professional and research development programs (for example, LU-WISE will be sustained with participant planning each year, and career coaching will be considered).
- Create more readily available data and examples (case studies) to support discussions around hiring and tenure/promotion and for faculty-led departmental change efforts.
- Scope of ADVANCE: The scope of ADVANCE has thus far been women faculty in STEM. The survey and interview feedback suggest this expertise is still needed. At the same time, many underlying issues impact faculty beyond women in STEM. Thus, ADVANCE can continue to support programs and structures to benefit other communities and groups of faculty through coordinated and collaborative campus partnerships.
- Finally, your responses sent a very strong message that ADVANCE is a natural starting place for faculty concerns related to equity and community. However, ADVANCE cannot (and should not) become the solution for all problems or the resource for all faculty requests.
Past Surveys, Assessments, Evaluations (by ADVANCE or related Offices)
Lehigh ADVANCE 2011 STEM Faculty Survey
A comprehensive set of interlocking programs will maximize the impact of interdisciplinarity in creating and maintaining a critical mass of women STEM faculty.
