Connectivity Series at RIT- Developing & Delivering an Effective Professional Development Workshop Series for Women Faculty in STEM

In science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines within the United States; women faculty are underrepresented within many disciplines including engineering, computer science, and physics. At a large private university, RIT, the ADVANCE institutional transformation project (supported by NSF Award No. 1209115), referred to as Advance RIT, aims to increase the representation and advancement of women STEM faculty (which includes social and behavioral sciences, SBS) by removing barriers to resources that support career success and by creating new interventions and resources. This paper reports on the design, delivery and evaluation of a professional development workshop series, called the Connectivity Series, which is a vital initiative within this large-scale, multi-year, strategic institutional transformation project. The workshop series consists of programs to promote the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women faculty. The project team developed workshop themes based upon the results of a faculty climate survey and a literature review as part of a previously conducted NSF ADVANCE funded self-study (0811076). Project researchers created the Connectivity Series for all tenure-track women faculty on campus as well as targeted workshops for women of color and deaf and hard of hearing women faculty. All disciplines represented within the university (STEM and non-STEM) have been identified as the target audience for workshop offerings due to the high prevalence of STEM disciplines within the university. Program assessment and evaluation results are presented. In addition, a sustainability plan is outlined for continuation of these targeted workshops beyond the five-year grant funding period

Competencies and Practices in Academic Engineering Leadership Development: Lessons from a National Survey

Traditionally, higher education has relied on recruiting executive leaders based largely on scholarly credibility, expecting leadership competency to develop with “on the job” experience. This approach is risky to organizational success. Building upon research about how institutional leaders identify, select, develop, and support those in succession, this study aims (1) to explore how senior academic leaders in engineering perceive their leadership roles, specifically the importance they attribute to various leadership skills and their self-confidence in exercising those skills, and (2) to discern the prevalence of mentoring and sponsorship practices those leaders use as part of their leadership portfolio. Results of a national survey, distributed in collaboration with the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) to leaders in academic engineering in North America, confirm the importance of select leadership skills, including practices related to the mentoring and sponsorship of emerging leaders. However, the reported prevalence of those practices was relatively low in this sample. The authors recommend holding leaders accountable for developing future leaders and present an instrument for self- and organizational assessment of such practices for use in implementing more intentional approaches to leadership development in higher education