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Women's tenure rates are widely and justifiably considered critical indicators of women's status within academia. In this article, however, we question the meaning of this indicator. We find that Ph.D. career path data show women's likelihood of getting tenure is equal to or better than men's in fields dominated by men. Most literature on gender and tenure focuses on family/work balance and academic climate issues, but a review of common labor market explanations in relation to Ph.D. career path data suggests that we need to view the academic labor market as just one segment of the broader labor market. In conclusion, we argue that understanding women's tenure status requires ''widening the lens'' to include the role of labor market alternatives to academic careers. Keywords: gender equity / non-academic labor market / Ph.D. careers / tenure, The 2002 Summary Report of the Survey of Earned Doctorates marks a milestone in doctoral education; for the first time, doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens went to more women than [...]

Despite increasing access to some faculty ranks, women faculty members continue to encounter a glass ceiling when it comes to achieving the rank of full professor. In this article, we introduce the 13+ Club Index as a way to understand, document, and resist patterns of non-promotion for women. Despite the utility of metrics for documenting issues in women's advancement, many are difficult to come by and hard to interpret. As a result, women at an institution may feel that they can make no real progress because they do not have access to the data required to make their case. Using the concept of the 13+ Club--the faculty cohorts at an institution who are thirteen or more years past degree--we have developed an index to document patterns of non-promotion that overcomes these difficulties by relying exclusively on publicly accessible data. In the first part of this article, we introduce and describe the 13+ Club Index and detail some of the logistics of acquiring and constructing an index of non-promotion. Then we describe the way we have used this index at Rensselaer first to initiate and then to monitor change. We conclude with thoughts about how the 13+ Club Index can challenge institutions to examine the full scope of improving women's advancement. Keywords: women's advancement in academia / glass ceiling / metrics, The Glass Ceiling in the Academy Despite increasing access to some faculty ranks, women faculty members continue to encounter a glass ceiling when it comes to achieving the rank of [...]

Previous research has found that the problem of sex inequity in higher faculty ranks may result from women taking longer to advance past associate professor. While statistical reports can isolate trends, they cannot identify reasons why women advance more slowly or suggest solutions for the situation. In this study, we conducted focus groups to learn how women tenured associate professors perceive their status as faculty women and their progress toward advancement to full professor. Questions explored career-related beliefs and practices, feelings about career progress, issues encountered while in the academy, and strategies used to manage these issues. Qualitative analysis of recurring themes and self-narratives of participants suggests that women associate professors are an overlooked or 'forgotten' group. Evidence refutes the common wisdom that the number of senior women faculty will grow if more women are hired at the junior levels. Women in the study expressed lack of agency and resignation to their status and felt demoralized based on their experiences in the academy. Recommendations to address the 'accumulation of disadvantages' are proposed including consistent application of promotion policies, development of workshops educating women about issues regarding their advancement, and equitable support for the activities of women faculty. Keywords: women faculty / promotion / associate professors / self-narrative, Having just gone through this [promotion to full professor]--I'm going to cry-reading those outside reviews was one of the most 'up' experiences I've had in many years. And you just [...]

This report addresses the ADVANCE initiative at Georgia Institute of Technology, aimed at improving the conditions and the chances for advancement of science and engineering women faculty. This initiative, funded by a five-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, was motivated by local findings of gender differences in curriculum vitae (CVs), the quality and quantity of mentoring, and the knowledge of and responses to tenure and promotion expectations and requirements. ADVANCE entails covering topics of interest and concern to all faculty, such as case studies of promotion and tenure; training to remove possible subtle gender and racial biases in promotion and tenure decisions; and developing ADEPT, a web program for faculty and administrators, as well as family-friendly policies and various practices that assess, promote, and guide the advancement of women faculty. Keywords: women science and engineering faculty / tenure and promotion / ADVANCE initiative / practices and policies, My experiences as a feminist and a scientist, including 23 years as director of Women's Studies in three very different institutions, where my tenure home has ranged from biology departments [...]

The importance of teaching evaluations to the tenure and promotion of women faculty cannot be underestimated. Administrators routinely consider classroom teaching in hiring, tenure, promotion, and salary decisions and increasingly rely most heavily on quantitative student ratings. Scholars who have attempted to determine whether/how gender enters into students' evaluations of their teachers generally fall into two camps: those who find gender to have no (or very little) influence on evaluations, and those who find gender to affect evaluations significantly. Drawing on insights developed from sociological scholarship on gender and evaluation, we argue that the apparent inconsistency on the question of whether student evaluations are gendered is itself an artifact of the way that quantitative measures can mask underlying gender bias. We offer concrete strategies that faculty, researchers, and administrators can employ to improve the efficacy of the system of evaluation. Keywords: teaching evaluations / gender / faculty assessment / tenure and promotion, Not long ago, an Associated Press news story with the headline, 'Women a Minority of Tenured Faculty and Administrators' began: 'Women comprise 58 percent of the nation's 13 million college [...]

Faculty women who are mothers experience overwhelming pressures associated with meeting their institutions' standards for tenure and fulfilling their responsibilities as parents. In this article, I draw on personal experience and scholarly debate to demonstrate that while many academic institutions have made considerable progress in accommodating academic parents' practical concerns--i.e., accessibility to quality childcare and reduced time for teaching and research--they still fail to recognize how thoroughly motherhood can alter a female academic's career. I argue that the psychological adjustment to motherhood required of female academics who bear children early in their careers calls for serious reconsideration of the timing and requirements associated with the tenure process. In response to this psychological and emotional consideration, I suggest a triplet of modifications to the standard research-driven tenure model intended to emphasize individual academics' experiences and interests, in general, and the ways in which the experiences of academic mothers, in particular, might positively transform academe. Keywords: tenure/work-family conflict / mothering / family-friendly policy, It is late evening when I begin this essay, hours after spending the morning on campus with my two-year-old son, Parker. During our walk to my office from the parking [...]

As a Black assistant professor, April L. Few discusses the challenge of balancing the demands of tenure and her commitment to community, diversity, and social justice. In this story about her journey toward tenure, she reflects upon how racism and sexism within the classroom have defined her professional identity as an activist scholar. She also poses questions for feminist scholars who struggle about whether moving toward the center or mainstream of an institution means having to lose pieces of oneself in the tenure process. In order to provide additional perspective on this issue, Fred P. Piercy, the department head, and Andrew Stremreel, the departmental chair of the tenure and promotion committee, also reflect on this dilemma and suggest ways of turning teaching and service into scholarship that counts for tenure. Although it may be said that all new faculty face transitions, this story discusses additional challenges that are often negotiated by untenured ethnic faculty at predominantly White universities. Keywords: Black women faculty / tenure requirements / balance / activism / community / social justice / feminism, This is a story that may sound familiar to many assistant professors in the social sciences. Most of us chose this career because of our commitment to a profession that [...]

In the case of Desert Palace v. Costa (2003), the Supreme Court's liberalization of evidentiary standards in proving discrimination helps women building cases of discrimination along the legal frame of disparate treatment theory. Desert Palace v. Costa clarifies and effectively expands the type of evidence that can be used to prove sex discrimination in cases where legitimate and illegitimate reasons are used to curtail employment opportunities. Now direct and circumstantial evidence can be used to build a case of sex discrimination in these mixed-motives cases. Given the nuances of faculty evaluation processes and the subjectivities therein, this legal development is particularly beneficial to women in academia. Nevertheless, while Desert Palace v. Costa is a progressive step forward, the law of sex discrimination remains limited in its ability to provide remedy in cases where similar treatment results in outcomes that vary on the basis of sex. Keywords: tenure / evaluation / women faculty / law / sex discrimination / disparate treatment, Catherine Costa is a 'trailblazer' (Costa v. Desert Palace, Inc., 299 F.3d 838, 844 [2002]). She worked alongside Teamsters as the only woman in the warehouses of Caesar's Palace--until she [...]

This section of the introduction focuses on authors who address issues of particular significance to women associate and full professors--the slow rate of post-tenure academic advancement, the academic glass ceiling, [...]

The hiring of women of colour faculty is not without unwritten presuppositions. We are expected to draw from cultural experience in catering to students of colour or when it fulfils institutional needs such as bringing 'colour' to all-white committees. Yet, the normative profile of university teachers demands detachment with a focus on high output in terms of students and publications. In the light of this, commitment to social justice seems in (certain) disagreement with mainstream interpretations of the academic profession. This article addresses how this dilemma is worked out in teacher-student relations.

A white English teacher tells the discomforts she experienced in teaching African-American literature that promotes discussion of racial issues. Although she admits that there are painful moments in discussing such issues, she explains that teachers should not be discouraged by the discomfort of such encounters when they bring about positive change. In stressing the importance of faculty as role models, she suggests that African-American literature should be taught by African-American faculty.

A mentor, Marjorie Roark, EdD, RN, encouraged PATRICIA KELLY, a maternal-child nurse and staff educator at a large university hospital, to pursue her master's in nursing education. Patty's interest in [...]

This special issue of the NWS A Journal focuses on several key challenges women faculty face in higher education--obtaining tenure-track positions and tenure; contending with gender and racial prejudice and [...]

A discussion on four women who created history at Edinburgh University when they were appointed as professors in the institution's School of Engineering and Electronics is presented.

An anthropology professor of Jewish heritage but of Cuban roots tells her story upon being granted the MacArthur award. The professor was doing field work in Mexico when she learned of the grant. The grant assured her of a tenure in two prestigious institutions, but she chose to accept the offer of the University of Michigan after much heartbreak. The award was a turning point in her life. She resolved to make use of the unique opportunity given her by venturing out with her writings in Cuba and in her adopted land.