Institutions Developing Excellence in Academic Leadership (IDEAL). A partnership to advance gender equity, diversity, and inclusion in academic STEM

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-10-2017-0209
• Date: 15 April 2019
• Pages: 362-381
• Published date: 15 April 2019
• Author: Diana Bilimoria,Lynn T. Singer
• Subject Matter: Hr & organizational behaviour

Institutions Developing

Excellence in Academic

Leadership (IDEAL)

A partnership to advance gender equity,

diversity, and inclusion in academic STEM

Diana Bilimoria

Department of Organizational Behavior, Case Western Reserve University,

Cleveland, Ohio, USA, and

Lynn T. Singer

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to describe the objectives, activities and outcomes of the National

Science Foundation ADV ANCE project, Institut ions Developing Excelle nce in Academic Leaders hip

(IDEAL) during 2009–2012. The goal of IDEAL was to create an institutional learning community

empowered to develop an d leverage knowledge, sk ills, resources and net works to transform acade mic

cultures and enhance gende re quity, diversity and inclusion in science, techn ology, engineering and math

(STEM) discipline s at six research univer sities in the northern Ohi o region. Over the three -year period,

these institutions de veloped academic leaders and institut ionalized gender equity transformat ion through

multi-dimensional a nd multi-level initiatives, impr oving the advancement and leadersh ip of women faculty

in STEM disciplines.

Design/methodology/approach –The authors describe the objectives, activities and outcomes of the NSF

ADVANCE project, IDEAL during 2009–2012. The six research institutions included in IDEAL were Bowling

Green State University, Case Western Reserve University (the lead institution), Cleveland State University,

Kent State University, University of Akron and University of Toledo.

Findings –IDEAL’s outcomes included the institutionalization of a number of gender equity initiatives at

each university, an increase in the number of tenured women faculty in science and engineering disciplines

over three years across the six universities, and increases in the numbers of women in faculty and

administrative leadership positions. Out of 62 of the IDEAL participants (co-directors and change leaders), 25

were promoted or appointed to roles of leadership within or beyond their institutions during or after their

participation in IDEAL. A number of new institutional collaborations and exchanges involving the six

universities occurred during and emerged from IDEAL. An integrative model of the IDEAL program is

developed, describing the nested components of each institution’s gender equity transformation within the

IDEAL partnership consortium and the larger NSF ADVANCE community, and highlighting the dynamic

interactions between these levels.

Social implications –The IDEAL program demonstrates that systemic change to achieve equity for

women and underrepresented minority faculty in STEM disciplines must be rooted on individual campuses

but must also propagate among higher education systems and the broader scientific community. The effort to

develop, sustain and expand the IDEAL partnership model of institutional transformation (IT) in higher

education illuminates how innovative, context-sensitive, cost-effective and customized institutional strategies

may be implemented to advance gender equity, diversity, inclusion and leadership of women faculty at all

levels across the country.

Originality/value –This is an original description of a unique and distinctive partnership

among research unive rsities to foster gende r equity IT. The manuscri pt details the objecti ves, activities

and outcomes of the IDEAL p rogram, established wi th the aim of broadening pa rticipation in the

STEM academic workfor ce and advancing gender e quity, diversity and i nclusion in instituti ons of

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 38 No. 3, 2019

pp. 362-381

© Emerald PublishingLimited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-10-2017-0209

Received 5 October 2017

Revised 10 July 2018

Accepted 10 August 2018

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/2040-7149.htm

This research was supported by a National Science Foundation ADVANCE (Grant No. HRD-0929907).

Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are of the authors’

and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

362

EDI

38,3

higher education. An i ntegrative model is developed, illus trating the key components and outco mes of the

IDEAL program.

Keywords Women, Higher education, Sex and gender issues, Diversity, Gender equity,

Advancement and leadership of STEM women faculty, Institutional transformation, Inclusion

Paper type Research paper

More than 50 years after the passage of the 1963 Equal Pay Act and the deliberations of the

1963 President’s Commission on the Status of Women, women’s participation in science,

technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) remains an urgent topic (The National

Academies, 2007a, b). In academe, STEM disciplines have been especially intransigent to the

inclusion and advancement of women in the professional ranks, even as women’s numbers

have grown in undergraduate and graduate enrollment and as advanced degree recipients

(Etkowitz et al., 1994; Burke and Mattis, 2007; The National Academies, 2007b). With the

slow pace of improvement and studies indicating persistent institutional resistance and

barriers to change, the National Science Foundation (NSF) created the ADVANCE program

in 2001 (see http://nsf.gov/advance/). The program has become an integral part of NSF’s

multifaceted strategy to broaden participation in the STEM workforce and advance the

contributions of women in academic science and engineering (S&E).

The ADVANCE program recognizes that simplistic, ad hoc or piecemeal solutionscannot

eradicate syste matic, historical a nd widespread gen der inequities ( Bilimoria et al., 2008).

Instead, a comprehensive transformation of the organizational systems, structures, processes

and practicesthat perpetuate inequity isneeded (cf., McCracken, 2000;Meyerson and Fletcher,

2000; Ely and Thomas, 2001), by engagingthe full organization through multiple, multi-level,

varied and simultaneously implemented change interventions (Bilimoria and Liang, 2012;

Hogue and Lord, 2007). ADVANCE encourages institutions of higher education and the

broader STEM community to address aspects of the academic culture and institutional

structure that may differentially affect women faculty. Since 2001, NSF has invested over

$270m to support ADVANCE projects at more than 160 institutions of highereducation and

STEM-related not-for-profit organizations across the USA.

The structural, occupational, organizational, interpersonal and individual level factors

constraining the workforce participation, advancement, retention and leadership of

women and underrepresented minority (URM) faculty in STEM are well documented (e.g.

Burke and Mattis, 2007; The National Academies, 2007b; Rosser, 2004) as well as the

multi-level and multi-dimensional institutional solutions to redress them (Bilimoria and

Liang, 2012; Stewart et al., 2007; Hogue and Lord, 2007). What is missing is a context-

sensitive, cost-effective and customizable strategy for learning and knowledge sharing

about gender equity change and catalyzing institutional transformation (IT). Innovative,

resource-sensitive efforts to achieve equity for women and URM faculty in STEM

disciplines must be rooted on individual campuses, but must also propagate among

institutions and systems of higher education and the larger scientific community. To

address this gap, we established the Institutions Developing Excellence in Academic

Leadership (IDEAL) project to develop, implement and measure the success of a

partnership model to effect behavior and policy transformation at multiple universities,

positioning those institutions to stimulate change across post-secondary education in a

region and leverage the idea of equity as enhancing regional STEM economic well-being

and growth. In the following sections we describe IDEAL’s partner institutions, the

results of Case Western Reserve University’s (CWRUs) earlier ADVANCE IT program

which informed and guided the development of the IDEAL program, the theoretical

model preceding IDEAL’s IT efforts, IDEAL’s goal and objectives, initiatives and

outcomes over the period 2009–2012, and an integrative model describing IDEAL’s

components and outcomes.

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Partnership to

advance

gender equity