Villanova University
PA-7: Support for Future Faculty Diversity

Villanova has a campus liaison for the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers (IRT). IRT helps students of color and other scholars committed to diversity, counsel them through the graduate school application process and advocate for sufficient funding for advanced studies. Our liaison helps to get Villanova students interested in the program so they can achieve their ambitions. Additionally, the College of Engineering works diligently to increase the amount of women with the profession and the professoriate both within within the College and in general. It has achieve this through seeking out quality female candidates at professional conferences. Further, Villanova's College of Engineering has been granted three Professorships through the Clare Boothe Luce Program. Since its first grants in 1989 the Clare Boothe Luce Program (CBL) has become the single most significant source of private support for women in science, mathematics and engineering. Clare Boothe Luce, the widow of Henry R. Luce, was a playwright, journalist, U.S. Ambassador to Italy, and the first woman elected to Congress from Connecticut. In her bequest establishing this program, she sought “to encourage women to enter, study, graduate, and teach” in science, mathematics and engineering. Thus far, the program has supported more than 1900 women. The substantial professional development funds associated with each professorship provide flexibility and support rarely available to new faculty members.