Through Lehigh ADVANCE, the University aims to increase the number of women STEM faculty. We anticipate improved recruitment and retention rates and improved job satisfaction. Lehigh also anticipates improved opportunities for networking among women scientists and research engineers at Lehigh and across the Lehigh Valley Region of Pennsylvania.
Strategies for Recruitment
- Lehigh ADVANCE will consult with STEM faculty search committees on best practices and ways Lehigh ADVANCE can assist recruitment of women faculty.
- Funding travel and honoraria for seminars presented by prospective STEM women faculty.
- Clustered faculty hiring, broad definition of fields, multi-year hiring plans, interdisciplinary search committees that include women, networking with target departments and centers.
Strategies for Retention Focus on Mentoring and Networking
- Interdisciplinary Networking Committees will be established.
- An Open Access Database will be developed and reside on the Lehigh ADVANCE website to facilitate identification of potential interdisciplinary collaborators.
- Leadership & Retention Interviews with STEM women will inform programming and development of University-wide best practices for mentoring and evaluating STEM women and will help formulate strategies to overcome problems experienced by individual faculty.
- Workshops for department chairs, P&T committees, and other faculty evaluators, focused on best practices in mentoring and evaluating STEM faculty involved in interdisciplinary research and teaching.
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.
