A new grant will help the University of Arkansas further its efforts to recruit and retain more women faculty members in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.
The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of Arkansas $1 million through its ADVANCE program, which is designed to promote equity and inclusion in university STEM faculties. Through the grant, the University of Arkansas will support its UA ENGAGE program to increase the focus on women faculty and increase its efforts to recruit a more diverse faculty base.
According to a university release, the grant will be used to redistribute workloads among faculty members. Service work, such as participating on committees, can detract from research and career opportunities, and the U of A is aiming to ensure that female faculty members do not have a disproportionate amount of service work. In addition, the university will use the grant to audit its policies to increase faculty equity and create a formal mentoring and training program.
The grant will also be used to target the tenure track gap in the university. Specifically, the grant will focus on recruiting and integrating more women faculty into the university.
The ADVANCE grant is part of the National Science Foundation’s initiative to create a “more diverse and capable science and engineering workforce.” According to the NSF website, the grants are designed to reduce systemic factors that cause inequalities in the academic profession.
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