By Thomas Oberst and Franklin Crawford
Earlier this year, the College of Engineering's Women's Programs in Engineering (WPE) office issued a pamphlet, a "Guide to Women Faculty," celebrating the breadth of research interests of women professors and highlighting their fast-rising numbers within the college. The booklet, like the college it portrays, is the product of a conscious and sustained effort to hire and retain women faculty.
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| The "Guide to Women Faculty" pamphlet put out by the College of Engineering's Women's Programs in Engineering office profiles the college's 30 women faculty members. Robert Barker/University Photography |
A significant part of the pamphlet's impact can be attributed to the increasing number of female Ph.D.s that the engineering college has hired over the past 10 years. Women now make up about 13 percent of the college's 231 faculty members, compared with just 9 percent in 1996. Nationally, according to the Women in Engineering Programs and Advocates Network, women comprised 9.9 percent of the 21,581 total tenured/tenured-track engineering faculty in 2003.
"There is a tremendous effort here to foster, recruit and nurture women faculty," said Zellman Warhaft, director of WPE, who last year became the first associate dean for diversity in the college.
These efforts in the college reflect a much larger, universitywide commitment to the recruitment and retention of both women and minority faculty. In concert with national efforts and, in some cases, setting the pace, the Cornell administration has funded new initiatives and enhanced hiring policies through a range of supportive programs.
Over the past three years, the provost's office has committed substantial resources toward faculty diversification, from establishing the Dual Career Program that provides assistance to highly qualified couples, to improvements in academic parental leave policies and child care grant subsidy programs (see sidebar). Another example of a supportive, as well as a social, initiative is the Independent Consultants Network (ICON), a nonprofit association of more than 50 professional consultants. Cornell hosts ICON's Web site and monthly meetings, which are open to the public.
In addition, the provost's office works closely with deans and department chairs to provide bridge funds for the appointment of talented women and minority faculty in anticipation of retirements.
"Most departments look for scholars to fill anticipated needs," said Robert Harris, Cornell's vice provost for diversity and faculty development. "The appointment of women and minority scholars who will transition into department lines will help us to strengthen our faculty and to increase our academic diversity."
The College of Engineering has set for itself challenging goals in seeking to increase the diversity of its faculty. However, Cornell search committees' main criterion remains the consideration of the quality of candidates, observed Paulette Clancy, director of the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the first woman to head a school in the college. "The initial investment in a faculty member is on the order of a million dollars ... hiring people according to gender and racial background can't be the first thing you look at. The first thing has to be excellence," she said.
Clancy, who has been an advocate for women in engineering since she came to Cornell 17 years ago, said that the focus remains on encouraging more women to study and teach engineering.
Warhaft, who is professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, agreed. "It's a foregone conclusion that we are looking for top researchers and teachers when we are hiring, and we are uncompromising on that," he said.
The folder-style WPE booklet contains loose-leaf pages describing the research and teaching interests of each of 30 women faculty members, providing biographical information as well as details about current research projects and awards. A glimpse of the more personal side of the faculty, under the title "On Her Own Time," allows the women to describe their interests outside of work.
Among some of the newest faculty members featured in the booklet are three assistant professors: Alyssa Apsel in electrical and computer engineering (ECE), Chekesha Liddell in materials science and engineering, and Antje Berndt in operations research and industrial engineering (ORIE) -- all of whom earned their Ph.D.s between 2002 and 2003. The average age of the female faculty in the college is 38.5, compared with 50.8 for all engineering faculty.
The booklet portrays the exciting new research vistas opened up by Cornell's young women professors, who lead their fields with research in areas such as optoelectronic high-performance computers (Apsel), credit-risk modeling for financial institutions (Berndt), orthopedic biomechanics (Marjolein van der Meulen of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) and natural disaster risk assessment and management (Rachel Davidson of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering).
Apsel, Davidson, Liddell and van der Meulen agree that many of the reasons why the numbers of engineering Ph.D.s do not reflect the percentage of women in the general U.S. population are specific to the field and not necessarily to women. There could be gender-based differences in how students choose a major, suggests van der Meulen.
"Engineering is very much a people-serving profession, but people don't see it that way," Davidson noted. "The public image of an engineer is making widgets and crunching numbers, and not interacting with people. I think we have to change that image. ... There's a reason we do the number crunching: It's to make the world a better place. But we don't talk about that enough," she said.
Davidson is a particular role model for students seeking to improve the world. She is an adviser to a national community-service technology organization Engineers for a Sustainable World, based at Cornell, and co-teaches an academic course on engineering-based service projects.
Some new women faculty members are apprehensive about the booklet. Asked Apsel, "Do women students prefer to work with women faculty? Are they going to change what they are interested in just to work with me? If they do, then when they graduate they will be very disappointed to realize that they limited themselves to 13 percent of what was available. Certainly I'm here for anyone who wants to talk about issues particular to being a woman, but your research should be governed by what you are interested in."
Some women undergraduates, however, appear to feel that having a role model for an adviser is helpful. Melissa Kaufman '06 of New Rochelle, N.Y. -- whose major is in operations research and industrial engineering -- played a leading role in writing and designing the booklet. "As a student I felt that the pamphlet was meant for prospective students, or students who were already here but still deciding on a major and who may want some advice," she said. "Just in the past two years, four new women faculty were hired: three in ORIE and one in materials science and engineering." Kaufman was assisted on the booklet by Allison Goodman '03, electrical and computer engineering, and Robin J. Burt, former assistant director of WPE.
The booklet's celebration of the achievements of women faculty reflects the strong commitment to increasing the diversity of the engineering faculty espoused by Engineering Dean W. Kent Fuchs.
Said Warhaft, "I respect the viewpoint of those who are critical, but it's really important to publicize the fact that we have a strong group of active women faculty. I hope this will encourage other women to become professors."
Dual Career Program: With increasing frequency, academic candidates have a spouse or partner also seeking employment. To assist these highly qualified couples, Cornell has established the Dual Career Program within the Recruitment and Employment Center, Office of Human Resources, to offer job-search assistance, information and support. The provost's office has committed about $350,000 a year to support academic appointments for the partners or spouses of women and minority faculty. An additional $200,000 a year assists the partners or spouses of male faculty. On the Web: http://www.ohr.cornell.edu/jobs/RecruitmentPrograms/dual.
Independent Consultants Network (ICON): This program grew out of the recognition by Cornell of the need for a professional network of consultants -- from career management to computer services -- in the Ithaca area. The Dual Career Program was instrumental in the creation of ICON and continues to provide the electronic mailing service and to host meetings. However, ICON is independent of the university. On the Web: http://www.iconconnect.org/.
Academic Parental Leave: The parental leave policy provides up to one semester of relief from teaching with full pay for the primary care-giving parent when a child is born or an adopted child or foster child joins the household. The primary care-giving parent can request an automatic extension of the tenure clock for up to two semesters. Additional extensions can be granted by a dean and the provost. On the Web: http://www.policy.cornell.edu/Cm_Images/Uploads/Pol/vol6_2_1.pdf.
Cornell University Child Care Grant Subsidy Program: This program helps Cornell employees pay child-care expenses. The grant covers child care for work days, school holidays, summer vacations and teacher work days. On the Web: http://www.ohr.cornell.edu/benefits/childcaregrant/index.html.
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