Department of Materials Science and Engineering

MSE's Constant named ADVANCE Professor

 

Iowa State University recently received a $3.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to facilitate increased participation of women in science, technology, engineering and math careers. The grant will support a project called ADVANCE that will develop and implement programs that enhance the recruitment, retention and promotion of women scientists and engineers at Iowa State. More details are available at www.advance.iastate.edu.  

As part of this program, faculty members in several ISU departments have been designated ADVANCE professors, including Associate Professor Kristen Constant in MSE.  The ADVANCE professors were chosen in focal departments from the College of Engineering, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the College of Agriculture.  The ADVANCE professors will facilitate a three-step process for departmental transformation that will include focus group and needs assessment meetings, training sessions tailored to meet the unique needs of individual departments, and collaborative problem solving sessions involving department faculty and ADVANCE program leaders. Developing and implementing best practices for fostering cultures, practices and structures of inclusion will be the goal at the department level. Department chairs and ADVANCE professors will be key change agents. At the same time, the university-wide focus will be on identification of subtle and overt impediments to equity and on policies which will dissolve these barriers. 

Susan Carlson, Iowa State's associate provost for faculty advancement and diversity is the principal investigator for the ADVANCE program. Carlson said the program's overriding goal is to transform the university so Iowa State is a better place for women to build a career in science, technology, engineering and math.  "This project is targeted at making this a better place for women to advance their careers," she said, "but it will also make this an optimal environment for all men and women in STEM fields." 

According to the National Science Foundation, women comprise only about 25 percent of the science and engineering workforce, and less than 21 percent of science and engineering faculty in four-year colleges and universities. The environment at Iowa State mirrors the national trend. A 2001 study by ISU's Office of Institutional Research found that in 18 of 32 science, technology, engineering and math departments, women represented less than 16 percent of tenure-track faculty. And a 2002 report by the University Committee on Women found that newly hired, tenure-track women faculty had higher attrition rates than their male counterparts, particularly in the first three years of their employment. 

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