Tag: Higher Ed

Items related to systems within higher education and the academy. Ivory tower.

ADVANCE Weekly Roundup: Foundational Strategies to Create Equitable Systems for Faculty

As pandemic effects continue, fostering equitable climates to retain high quality faculty and staff is more important than ever.  The UMass ADVANCE team outlines four foundational strategies: communication, resources, flexibility, and adapting equity-informed strategies. Meaningful communicative interactions and supportive resources are critical to faculty and staff job satisfaction.  In addition, flexible policies and practices remain . . .

ADVANCE Weekly Roundup: Eliminating the penalties for motherhood in STEM

The COVID-19 pandemic has called attention to the impediments that women in STEM face as mothers, including a multipronged “maternal wall” with career-long ramifications. This week’s Roundup takes you to a virtual conference, “Motherhood and career retention in STEM: Systemic barriers and actionable solutions” held on May 5, 2021. The event was sponsored by Mothers . . .

ADVANCE Weekly Roundup: Metastudy on Biases in Student Teaching Evaluations

Research into Student Teaching Evaluations often focus on what such evaluations actually measure and the inherent biases about instructors that can disadvantage or advantage particular faculty. This article in Inside Higher Ed reports on a metastudy that addresses both measurement and equity biases in student evaluations and suggests strategic responses for higher education institutions. One . . .

ADVANCE Weekly Roundup: Ways to accelerate a culture shift

How can Michigan Tech accelerate the cultural shift needed to make campus feel truly inclusive to women and minorities? Today’s ADVANCE weekly roundup features two Chronicle of Higher Education articles about achieving this shift. In one, Alec Gallimore, Dean of Engineering at the University of Michigan, describes how his college significantly transformed leadership by addressing . . .

Dissolving the margins: LEANING INto an antiracist review process

Cultures in academia were established more than a century ago when everyone hailed from the same demographic.  While cultures have slowly evolved, fair treatment according to student/faculty needs have not all been addressed which means inequity remains deeply rooted in academia. Systemic inequities can manifest in a number of ways, including the peer review process. . . .

February 18 2021 ADVANCE Weekly Roundup

The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound impacts on all aspects of academia. An article from Science reports that recent studies indicate that the pandemic’s impact has hit academic mothers particularly hard. It has exacerbated existing disparities and created further challenges for women, including significant loss of time dedicated to research. Today’s edition of the ADVANCE . . .

January 8, 2021 ADVANCE Weekly Roundup

Much as our lived experiences are influenced by the intersections of our identities, so too are our perceptions of diversity and inclusion. Recent research from the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) at Harvard University indicates that white faculty members often have a vastly different perception of diversity and inclusion than their non-white . . .