Lehigh University
PA-7: Support for Future Faculty Diversity

Lehigh ADVANCE Recruitment: Lehigh University was one of seven 2010 recipients of an NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Grant. Lehigh’s proposal “Building Community Beyond Academic Departments” focuses on harnessing the strengths of interdisciplinarity to enhance recruitment, retention, and the advancement of women faculty in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields at Lehigh. At Lehigh University, STEM includes the NSF funded disciplines of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology, Sociology/Anthropology, Economics, and the disciplines within the College of Engineering. Lehigh ADVANCE will evaluate Lehigh's climate and policies, conduct social science research, and make recommendations for best practices to transform the University over the next five years. Lehigh ADVANCE will also provide funds to departments and interdisciplinary programs to invite advanced women graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in STEM to give seminars and become familiar with Lehigh, with the purpose of networking and making connections with potential female candidates for upcoming faculty positions, which encourages the participation of women in higher education and future faculty positions. Lehigh ADVANCE “Building Community Beyond Academic Departments program” is part of a national push to increase the ranks of women in academic science and engineering careers. The overarching goals are to: • transform Lehigh through improved recruitment, retention, career satisfaction and leadership development of early- to mid-career women faculty in STEM. • contribute to the national dialogue and social science scholarship by examining if interdisciplinary organization can create a critical mass and more equitable work environment for women STEM faculty if facilitated by vigorous search strategies, proactive evaluation policies, and mentoring and networking programs geared to interdisciplinary research and teaching. Full proposal: http://advance.cc.lehigh.edu/sites/advance.cc.lehigh.edu/files/LehighADVANCEproposal_10.27.10_0.pdf