Creating Waves of Change

Two professors of sociology are drawing attention from institutions across the country with their research findings on the hiring of women in the academic ranks of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

Christy Glass, assistant professor of sociology at Utah State University, and Krista Lynn Minnotte, assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Dakota, have conducted research for the last three years exploring mechanisms in the recruitment and hiring process that hinder or promote the hiring of women into tenure-track jobs in the STEM fields. The team studied data that included the entire pool of applicants to tenure-track STEM faculty positions over a five year period at a large public university. 

 

Glass and Minnotte’s research sheds light on a variety of ways universities and academic departments can increase the number of women in tenure-track jobs, including placing greater emphasis on increasing the number of female applicants, placing ads that specifically target women scientists and increasing the greater diversity of search committees.

 

Since presenting the findings at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association in Boston in August 2008, their work has been featured in an Inside Higher Ed article entitled “Keys to Hiring Women in Science” and in the National Council for Research women’s blog. Additionally, Glass and Minnotte have received inquiries from researchers and administrators around the country, including Kelly Oaks, director of equity initiatives in the Office for Equity and Inclusion at Virginia Tech. Oaks plans to share the team’s findings with department heads and deans in STEM fields at her university as well as include the material in her office’s brochure on unrecognized biases.

 

Glass and Minnotte’s research was supported by the National Science Foundation ADVANCE program at Utah State University.

 

ADVANCE project’s mission at Utah State University is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women in all levels of faculty and academic administration, particularly at the senior academic ranks through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate and culture. The Institutional Transformation project involves the implementation of a coordinated campus effort to increase the participation and advancement of women faculty in the sciences and engineering at the university.

 

 

 

Contact: Christy Glass (435) 797-1258, christy.glass@usu.edu
Writer: Trish Kalbas-Schmidt, trish.kalbas-schmidt@usu.edu