Page 13 - UD Research Magazine Vol5-No2

UD Acting
President Nancy Targett
(center) met with these young women from Sub Saharan Africa as part of the Study of the United States Institute, a State Department program held at UD this past summer to develop leadership skills.
WOMEN MADE UP 41% OF UD’S FACULTY DURING 2014-15. — UD FACTS & FIGURES
COURTESY OF NANCY TARGETT
actions at his institution, and the P and T committee and I agreed to throw the letter out. The assistant professor was promoted with ease and has continued to have a very productive research career in oceanography.”
Thoroughgood wouldn’t play the door- mat or the victim. She simply addressed the problem. Her refusal to take up a cam- paign wasn’t always appreciated by other women. But that was her way.
“WeretheretimesIcouldseeimproper behavior?Youbet,”Thoroughgoodsaid. “I saw it and I heard about it.... But we’re here together to work as a team. I am not going to say we are disadvantaged, need special help or need only women mentors. I would find that perspective crippling. It is more important to focus on maximizing the abilities one has.”
Plenty of women—some of whom are still on active duty—can recall much less enlightened days when a female faculty member with a Ph.D. might be assigned to teach 8 a.m. classes six days a week, tagged as a house mother for female students, required to live on campus if she was unmarried and forced to choose between building a family and meeting the dead- lines of the tenure track.
The University has made significant policy changes—including the “Stop the Clock” initiative that gives tenure-track
faculty an extra year in the tenure process if they need to take family leave for the birth of a child. That extension can be made twice in what is normally a six-year process.
And the University’s recently adopted strategic plan—known as Delaware Will Shine—underlines UD’s commitment
to increased and sustained diversity as a cornerstone of all future endeavors.
The ADVANCE project, which is writtenintothatstrategicplan,has manystrategiestosupportchange,raise awareness of such things as unconscious bias, improve the “microclimate” for women, point to what is working elsewhere, clarify policies and monitor University data, and facilitate conversations about diversity. The project, which is based on research,
has a research program of its own that will contribute data and analysis to a growing body of literature on organizational change and the advancement of women.
Of course some still shrug when they hear the word “diversity,” dismissing it as a useless and wearisome exercise in political correctness.
Rhonda Prisby, associate professor
of kinesiolog y and applied physiolog y, says that reaction usually emerges from those already in a position of influence and/ or power.
“Having a diverse group matters,” she said. “You don’t think the same way. You bring new experience to the table if you’re different.... You have to have women out there in front.”
Four principal investigators lead the ADVANCE effort—including Cook, John Sawyer, professor of management and associate provost of institutional research and effectiveness, Heather Doty, a physi- cistandassistantprofessorofmechanical engineering,andRobinAndreasan,a philosopher and associate professor of linguistics and cognitive science.
They enjoy support in high places, including Acting President Nancy Targett, who has been a strong proponent through- out the ADVANCE initiatives, Provost Domenico Grasso and Deputy Provost
for Research and Scholarship Charles Riordan, to name a few.
In his letter of endorsement to NSF, Grasso wrote: “I am aware that UD has been historically slow in diversifying the faculty not only in gender but particularly with respect to underrepresented minority faculty (URM). But history is not destiny!”
Grasso, who was the founding director of the engineering program at Smith College, said he is committed to advancing women in STEM fields and lending “the weight of my office” to assure that recruit-
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